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How Ratzinger and Ruini agree and disagree on the future of the Church. A creative minority, or a civil religion?
by Sandro Magister
ROMA, May 30, 2005 – A few days after the election of Joseph Ratzinger as pope, the Church’s central statistics bureau published the “Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae” for the year 2003, a volume of 500 pages packed with information and released in Latin, English, and French.
The most interesting comparison to be made is that between these data and those of 1978, the first year of the pontificate of John Paul II. Over the past quarter of a century, what has changed in the statistical profile of the Church that Pope Benedict XVI has begun to govern?
In absolute terms, the number of baptized Catholics has grown by 43.5 percent, from 757 million to 1.085 billion.
But in proportion to world population, it has fallen. In 1978, Catholics made up 18 percent of the total figures; in 2003, they were 17 percent.
These results vary greatly from continent to continent. In Europe, the figures have remained static. In Africa, however, there has been an explosive growth in the number of the baptized: from 55 million in 1978 to 144 million in 2003, and from 12 percent of the African population in 1978 to 17 percent in 2003.
There has also been a growth of Africa’s weight in terms of worldwide Catholicism. Over twenty-five years, African Catholics have gone from 7 to 13 percent of the total. European Catholics, meanwhile, have gone from 35 to 26 percent overall.
But when it comes to the proportion between the priests and the faithful, Europe is still a privileged continent. There, for every diocesan or religious priest there are, on average, 1,386 faithful. In Africa, there are 4,723, an even heavier load than in 1978, when there were 3,200 faithful to every priest.
Vocations to the priesthood are an important indicator of future developments. In Europe, for every 100 active priests there are 12 candidates to replace them, while in Africa there are 72, and 60 in Asia. Analogously, for every million faithful, there are 87 candidates for the priesthood in Europe, 150 in Africa, and 250 in Asia.
These are some of the raw figures. One can gather from them that Europe is a critical point, and one of the most serious.
But apart from the figures, a more refined multidisciplinary analysis is necessary – and here the scholars do not agree…
Full article
by Sandro Magister
ROMA, May 30, 2005 – A few days after the election of Joseph Ratzinger as pope, the Church’s central statistics bureau published the “Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae” for the year 2003, a volume of 500 pages packed with information and released in Latin, English, and French.
The most interesting comparison to be made is that between these data and those of 1978, the first year of the pontificate of John Paul II. Over the past quarter of a century, what has changed in the statistical profile of the Church that Pope Benedict XVI has begun to govern?
In absolute terms, the number of baptized Catholics has grown by 43.5 percent, from 757 million to 1.085 billion.
But in proportion to world population, it has fallen. In 1978, Catholics made up 18 percent of the total figures; in 2003, they were 17 percent.
These results vary greatly from continent to continent. In Europe, the figures have remained static. In Africa, however, there has been an explosive growth in the number of the baptized: from 55 million in 1978 to 144 million in 2003, and from 12 percent of the African population in 1978 to 17 percent in 2003.
There has also been a growth of Africa’s weight in terms of worldwide Catholicism. Over twenty-five years, African Catholics have gone from 7 to 13 percent of the total. European Catholics, meanwhile, have gone from 35 to 26 percent overall.
But when it comes to the proportion between the priests and the faithful, Europe is still a privileged continent. There, for every diocesan or religious priest there are, on average, 1,386 faithful. In Africa, there are 4,723, an even heavier load than in 1978, when there were 3,200 faithful to every priest.
Vocations to the priesthood are an important indicator of future developments. In Europe, for every 100 active priests there are 12 candidates to replace them, while in Africa there are 72, and 60 in Asia. Analogously, for every million faithful, there are 87 candidates for the priesthood in Europe, 150 in Africa, and 250 in Asia.
These are some of the raw figures. One can gather from them that Europe is a critical point, and one of the most serious.
But apart from the figures, a more refined multidisciplinary analysis is necessary – and here the scholars do not agree…
Full article