Courtney McGrailThe numbers of Catholics worldwide – lay, clerical and religious – has increased by 15 million, according to the latest figures made available by the Vatican.
This week the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae, updated to December 31, 2012, was presented to Pope Francis, along with the Pontifical Yearbook 2014.
It showed that the Americas and Africa are the continents that have experienced the largest increase, followed by Asia, Europe and Oceania. But in the number of priests, only Africa and Asia saw an increase, with Europe showing the largest decrease in numbers.
The number of Catholics globally stood at 1,228,621,000 with an overall increase of more than 15,000,000 compared to the previous year. The total number of priests in the world increased by 895 to 414,313.