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World's Catholics grow by 15 million
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The number of professed Catholics in the world has grown by 15 million, thanks to increases in Africa and Asia, the Vatican said Saturday, unveiling the latest edition of its yearbook.
Wonder how the Episcopalians are doing?
The conservative branch is doing well, with many American congregations choosing to move from Western bishoprics to African ones in addition to conversions in Africa and elsewhere. The liberal branch is shrinking, as I understand it.
Giving figures for 2010, the Vatican said the faithful now totalled 1.196 billion, keeping pace with world population growth, but numbers had fallen off in Europe and Latin America.

The greatest proportion of Catholics was still in Latin America at 28.34 per cent, down from 28.54 per cent in 2009, followed by Europe with 23.83 per cent against 24.05.

The Church gained ground in Africa, where its congregations rose from 15.15 to 15.55 per cent and in Southeast Asia, up from 10.41 to 10.87 per cent.

The percentage of baptised Catholics in the world remained stable at 17.5, according to the yearbook presented to Pope Benedict XVI by Vatican number two, Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone and his deputy Angelo Becciu.

Numbers of priests also rose in Africa and Asia, by 1,695 and 761 respectively, but fell by 905 in Europe.

Similarly, seminarians training to be priests increased by 14.2 per cent in Africa, 13 per cent in Asia and 12.3 per cent in the Pacific regions, but were down 10.4 per cent in Europe and 1.1 per cent in the Americas.
Posted by: Fred 2012-03-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=340719