The data comes from the dossier prepared by the Fides Agency each year for World Mission Day, Domund, which this Sunday, October 18, celebrates its hundredth edition under the motto “One in Christ, united in mission.” The day was instituted by Pius XI in 1926. The report, signed by Luca Mainoldi, analyzes the latest Statistical Yearbook of the Church. Population and baptized figures correspond to June 30, 2024; the rest, to December 31 of the same year.
Africa overtakes Europe
Catholics total 1,422,144,000, about 16.7 million more than in the previous measurement, and remain at 17.8 % of the world population. Growth is seen on all continents, though with very different intensities: Africa gains 7.58 million baptized and America almost seven million, compared with Europe’s 911,000.
The result is a shift of notable significance. Africa now has 288,312,000 Catholics and slightly surpasses Europe, which records 287,240,000. In light of the variations reported in the dossier itself, a year earlier the advantage was European: about 286.3 million faithful versus about 280.7 million in Africa. America remains in the lead, with 678.9 million Catholics, 64 % of its population.
The clergy grows, but not in Europe
According to the dossier, the total number of priests increases for the first time in five years, though almost symbolically: there are 407,421, only 425 more. The positive balance rests on Africa (+1,676), Asia (+1,065) and America (+199), while Europe loses 2,483 priests and Oceania 32.
The European drain is not new. In last year’s dossier, the same agency already recorded 2,486 fewer priests on the continent, so in just two years Europe has lost nearly 5,000. The slight global uptick also fails to improve pastoral care: on average, each priest serves 3,491 Catholics, 38 more than a year earlier, and the ratio worsens in America, Europe and Oceania. Bishops number 5,525 (+95) and permanent deacons 52,102 (+669).
Religious sisters and seminarians decline
The sharpest decline occurs in women’s consecrated life. Religious sisters number 580,131, 9,292 fewer than in the previous measurement. Europe accounts for the largest drop (-6,473), followed by America (-4,432); only Africa registers an increase (+2,190).
Major seminarians fall from 106,495 to 103,604. They grow only in Africa, which with 35,710 accounts for one in three seminarians worldwide. Asia suffers the steepest decline (-2,733) and Europe loses 701. Minor seminarians drop to 94,041 (-980), with Europe leading the retreat (-872).
Europe is thus the only continent in which priests, religious sisters, major seminarians, minor seminarians and catechists all decline at once. The latter decrease there by 7,603, while worldwide they reach 2,889,336 (+22,370). Lay missionaries also grow, reaching 463,079 (+18,473), an increase concentrated mainly in America.
The dossier also records the evolution of mission stations: those with a resident priest increase by 987 and those without one decrease by 12,162. The educational and welfare network maintains its weight, with 103,666 primary schools, 5,397 hospitals and a total of 101,110 health, charitable and welfare institutions.
The exception of traditional institutes
Fides statistics do not distinguish between communities according to the liturgical form they celebrate, but the contrast with the evolution of institutes linked to the traditional liturgy is striking, especially in Europe. The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), a society of apostolic life of pontifical right in full communion with Rome, ordained 25 priests in 2026, the highest figure since its foundation in 1988. The ordinations took place in two ceremonies: twelve in Omaha (United States) and thirteen in Lindenberg (Bavaria), the latter at the hands of Bishop Marc Aillet of Bayonne. According to data collected by InfoCatólica, this equals the total ordinations of Germany’s 27 dioceses throughout 2025.
The FSSP had 579 members in 2025: 387 priests, 30 deacons and 162 seminarians. In France, where the Episcopal Conference stopped counting ordinations of communities celebrating the ancient rite after Traditionis custodes, the Fraternity has received a growing number of French candidates since 2022, according to Le Journal du Dimanche. In absolute terms its weight remains small compared with the world’s more than 103,000 major seminarians. Even so, it is one of the few areas of the European Church in which priestly vocations are growing rather than shrinking.