Fides reports Africa surpasses Europe in Catholic numbers

Africa has more Catholics than Europe for the first time, according to a report from the Vatican agency Fides. The data shows Africa has 288.3 million baptized Catholics, while Europe has 287.2 million.

The Fides report, released ahead of the 109th World Mission Sunday, shows the global Catholic population has reached 1,422,144,000. This represents an increase of 16,690,000 people compared to previous figures, making Catholics 17.8% of the estimated 7,995,573,000 people worldwide. America remains the continent with the highest number of Catholics at 678,869,000.

While the global number of priests grew to 407,421, the number of religious sisters fell to 580,131 and major seminarians dropped to 103,604. Africa was the only continent to see an increase in religious sisters, with 786 more than the previous period. The Church also manages 103,666 primary schools globally, with 21.2 million students located in Africa.