Vatican statistics show fewer priests, more lay missionaries

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While the number of Catholic priests and religious continues to decline, the number of lay missionaries, catechists and permanent deacons continues to increase, according to the news agency Fides.

In anticipation of the celebration Oct. 19 of World Mission Sunday, the Vatican's missionary news agency shared statistics about the Catholic population, church personnel and the works they are engaged in.

In a message released Oct. 13, Pope Leo XIV, who served for decades as a missionary in Peru, encouraged all Catholics to mark World Mission Sunday with their prayers and financial support for the church's missionary work.

According to Fides, the number of Catholics in the world was just over 1.4 billion as of June 30, 2023, Fides reported. That represented an increase of 15.8 million Catholics over the previous year, an increase reported in every continent, including Europe, which had reported a decrease in the Catholic population from 2021 to 2022.

The continents with the largest increases were Africa, with more than 8.3 million baptisms, and the Americas with close to 5.7 million baptisms.

"For the past five years, available statistics show that the total number of priests in the world continues to decline, reaching 406,996," a decrease of 734 over the previous year, the news agency said.

The number of permanent deacons in the world continued to climb, reaching 51,433 in the world. The largest number of ordinations was in the Americas, with 1,257, followed by Oceania -- Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific -- with 57 new deacons.

The number of religious brothers in the world declined slightly to 48,748 while the number of religious sisters dropped by more than 9,000 to 589,423.

At the same time, Fides reported, the number of lay missionaries grew by more than 31,000 to reach 444,606. And the number of catechists increased by more than 17,000 to reach more than 2.8 million.

The Catholic Church, Fides said, runs more than 103,000 health care facilities, including 5,377 hospitals and 13,895 clinics or dispensaries. There are 504 church-run care homes for people with Hansen's disease, mainly in Asia and Africa.

Other church facilities include more than 15,000 homes for the elderly or chronically ill and close to 8,600 orphanages.

The number of Catholic schools and the number of students served also continues to grow, Fides reported.

The Catholic Church runs 74,550 kindergartens with more than 7.6 million students, 102,455 primary schools with more than 36.1 million students and more than 52,000 secondary schools serving more than 20.7 million pupils.