There are now more Catholics in Africa than Europe, says Vatican

A report published by a Vatican news agency has found that Africa now has more Catholics than Europe, with Europe now falling behind both the Americas and Africa for numbers of Catholics.

Agenzia Fides, the news agency for the Pontifical Mission Societies of the Vatican, released the comprehensive report ahead of the 100th World Mission Sunday just gone.

The report, compiled by Luca Mainoldi from the latest Statistical Yearbook of the Church, found that in 2024, the Catholic Church counted 1.422 billion members, making up 17.8% of the world’s population.

Between 2023 and 2024, Africa registered an increase of 7.58million Catholics, bringing the continent’s total to 288.312million, ahead of Europe’s 287.24million.

Africa’s Catholic population accounts for 19.9% of the continent’s approximately 1.4billion inhabitants.

It is the only continent where the number of women religious and major seminarians increased during the reporting period.

Europe saw an increase of 911,000 Catholics, accounting for 39.7% of the European population. However, the number of clergy and seminarians continues to decline.

The Americas is still the continent with the most Catholics, with 678.869 million which is 64% of the population, and added nearly seven million Catholics in one year.

Asia gained 968,000 more Catholics, bringing the total to 156.166million which is only 3.3% of the continent’s population.

Oceania’s Catholic population is now 11.557million Catholics after an increase of 239,000.

For the first time in five years, the number of priests worldwide increased, by 425 to 407,421.

This was mainly driven by Africa, with 1,676 new priests, and Asia with an added 1,065. The Americas increased by 199.

Europe, however, lost 2,483 priests and Oceania lost 32.

The number of bishops also rose by 95 to 5,525.

The number of women religious worldwide decreased by 9,292 to 580,131 as well as non-ordained male religious which reduced by 237 to 48,511.

However, the number of lay missionaries increased by 18,473 to 463,079 and lay catechists also rose by 22,370 to 2,889,336.

Permanent deacons also saw an increase, adding 669 making the global number 52,102.

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