Fewer Priests Worldwide

Fewer Priests Worldwide

The Vatican press office announced on March 6 the Catholic Church's official statistics as reported at the end of 2017.  (Yeah, always a little behind.)  The information comes from the 2019 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, just published.

The number of Catholics worldwide continues to grow, and there were increases in the numbers of bishops, deacons, lay missionaries, and catechists, but for the 1st time since 2010 the number of priests declined:  from 414,969 in 2016 to 414,582 in 2017.  The total number of seminarians likewise went down, by about 800.

The number of religious brothers also decreased, from 52,625 in 2016 to 51,535 in 2017. The number of women religious has also continued its downward trend, now about 649,000 worldwide.

Read more: https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/03/06/number-of-priests-declined-for-first-time-in-decade-vatican-says/