The annual report offers an overall view of the situation of the Catholic Church in the world, including a comparative data with respect to the past that allows us to identify, in the ecclesial panorama, trends and flows. According to the latest annual survey, permanent deacons in the world continue to increase (+974), and have exceeded the 50 thousand mark. The increase is in Africa, Asia and also in Europe, while it registers a decrease in America and Oceania.
The number of lay missionaries is growing
Alongside them, in a task that often overlaps and is combined, especially in the young Churches in continents such as Africa and Asia, the number of lay missionaries in the world is growing, amounting to 413.286, with a global increase of over 2.800 units, especially in America. On the other hand, the number of catechists has slightly decreased, but currently, in the global count, they still remain a considerable number of over 2,8 million: an apostolic force that, especially in the global South, is a valid aid for bishops, priests, consecrated people in visiting, meeting, "breaking" the Word of God in small villages in more remote areas, in dioceses with impervious, desert, mountainous, rural territories. For this reason, in the African continent the trend is reversed and the catechists of the parishes, who are often entrusted with the first Christian announcement, have grown by about 20 thousand units.
Catholics on the rise
The Agency's analytical dossier Fides (which reports figures taken from the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, as of December 31, 2022) starts from the data of the world Catholic population, estimated at over 1 billion and 389 million people, with an overall increase of 13,7 million Catholics compared to the previous year. The increase in Catholics, confirming a trend underway in recent years, affects four of the five continents (in Africa it is + 7 million, in America + 6 million, the most significant data) and only in Europe does it record a decline (- 474.000 baptized). In percentage terms, compared to the world population (over 7,8 billion people), the faithful are 17,7%, a slight increase (+0,03%) compared to the previous year.
The number of priests has dropped
A second noteworthy fact: for the last five years, the total number of priests in the world has continued to decline, and stands at 407.730 units (-142 in the last year). The significant decrease, once again, is noted in Europe (-2.745 priests), while significant increases are recorded in Africa (+1.676) and Asia (+1.160). Also for the global presence of consecrated women, the Fides report attests to the declining trend that has been underway for some time: they are 599.228, with a general decrease of over 9.000 units. Examining the continental data, however, increases in religious women are, once again, in Africa (+1.358) and Asia (+74), while the decrease is in America (-1.358) and Europe (-7.012), where the issue of the aging population and the demographic winter is also reflected in the life of the Church.
Vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life
Precisely for this phenomenon it is interesting to consider the data on vocations to the priesthood and to the consecrated life: the number of major seminarians is 108 thousand units, with increases that are noted in Africa (+726) and Oceania (+12), while the minus sign is found in America (-921), Asia (-375) and Europe (-859). Africa remains the "promised land of vocations" also for minor seminarians, that is, those boys who enter the institute already in middle school, as pre-adolescents: there are now over 95 thousand in the world with an increase that is seen only in Africa (+1.065), while a decline is seen in the other continents.
And where, as in the diocese of Nsukka, in Nigeria, the new priestly ordinations of young people who have reached the end of their studies have meant that the diocese has exceeded 400 presbyters, doubling the number of priests in the last decade, Bishop Godfrey Igwebuike Onah wanted to emphasize their condition of being "earthen vessels that carry a precious treasure, Christ Jesus, to guard it with care and give it to those who are thirsty". Not only in their country of origin, in a home mission, but also in the mission ad gentes which, for example, benefit European nations with a shortage of priests.