The number of Catholics and permanent deacons in the world rose in 2022, while the number of seminarians, priests, men and women in religious orders, and baptisms declined, according to Vatican statistics.
At the end of 2022, the number of Catholics in the world reached 1.389 billion, up 0.79 per cent from 1.378 billion Catholics at the end of 2021, according to the Vatican’s Central Office of Church Statistics.
The Vatican agency, Fides, published a brief overview of the global numbers 17 October.
While Catholics remained about 17.7 per cent of the global population, their numbers grew in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania, said the summary, which was based on numbers reported 31 December, 2022.
Only Europe saw a drop with 474,000 fewer Catholics. While the number of Catholics is increasing, the administration of the sacrament of baptism has decreased worldwide.
It fell from 17,932,891 baptisms administered in 1998 to 13,327,037 in 2022, according to Fides’ summary report.
The total number of diocesan and religious order priests decreased slightly by 142 men to a total of 407,730, the Vatican office said.
The number of permanent deacons—50,159—saw a 1.99 per cent increase over the previous year, with the most growth in Europe.