On February 19th,
the Cardinal Secretary of State, His Eminence, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone SDB
and Archbishop Fernando Filoni, the assistant for General Affairs, presented
the Holy Father the 2011 Annuario Pontificio. The Annuario is the pontifical
yearbook with everything you want to know and more. Highlights in this edition:
In 2010, the
Pope erected 10 new episcopal sees, 1 apostolic exarchate and 1 apostolic
vicariate. One diocese was elevated to the rank of metropolitan see, two
prelatures to the rank of diocese, and two apostolic prefectures and one
apostolic administration to the rank of apostolic vicariates.
The world’s Catholics
increased from nearly 1,166 million in 2008 to 1,181 million in 2009, an
increase of fifteen million faithful which corresponds to a growth of 1.3%.
The distribution
of Catholics among the continents. Between 2008 and 2009:
Catholics in the Americas reached 49.4% of the Catholic population of the world.
Asia’s Catholic population increased from 10.6 to 10.7% of the world total, considerably lower than the 60.7 percent of the global population.
Europe’s share of the world population is three percentage points lower than that of the Americas, but its share of world Catholics is nearly half that of the Americas, at 24%.
Africa and Oceania, their share of the world population differs little from their share of the world Catholic population (respectively, 15.2 and 0.8%).
Bishops increased between 2008 and 2009 from 5,002 to 5,065
Priests, both religious and secular increased over the last ten years from 405,178 in 2000 to 410,593 in 2009
Permanent deacons increased by 2.5%, from 37,203 in 2008 to 38,155 in 2009:
- 19% growth in Oceania
- 16% growth in Asia
- 2.3% growth in Europe
- 2.6% growth in America
Candidates to the priesthood grew by 0.82%, from 117,024 in 2008 to 117,978 in 2009:
- Africa grew by 2.39%
- Asia grew by 2.2%
- Europe fell by 1.64%
- America fell 0.17%