Catholic Population

May 14, 2013 Leave a comment

The Vatican’s annual headcount shows 1.214 billion Catholics worldwide.

Vatican statistics released today show that the number of Asian and African Catholics is continuing its upward trajectory, while the Church in Europe is still shrinking.

The number of religious excluding priests has risen 18.5 percent in Africa and a whopping 44.9 percent in Asia in just 10 years, according to the 2013 Pontifical Yearbook.

The Yearbook, which was published May 13 and contains data from 2011, revealed Catholics still make up less than 18 percent of the world’s population, but the Church is growing the fastest in Africa and Asia.

And although it shows “a strong downward trend was observed in data for the professed religious women with a decrease of 10 percent from 2001 to 2011,” there has also been “a sustained increase” with over 28 percent in Africa and 18 percent in Asia.

The Yearbook states that although the number of Catholics in the world increased by just 1.5 percent from 2010 to 2011, it increased by 4.3 percent in Africa and 2 percent in Asia.

The total number of Catholics that were baptized in 2011 had the highest representation in the Americas at 48.8 percent, followed by Europe with 23.5 percent, Africa was at 16 percent, Asia had 10.9 percent and Oceania came in at just under one percent.

“The dynamics of the number of priests in Africa and Asia is somewhat comforting,” says the document.

It reports that there were over 3,000 new priests in the two continents in 2011 and that in 10 years the numbers increased by 39.5 percent in Africa and 32 percent in Asia.

“America remains stationary around an average of 122,000 priests and Europe, in contrast to the global average, has seen a decrease of 9 percent in the past decade,” the Yearbook says.

Another surprising fact is that the number of permanent deacons has also boomed, especially in Europe and the United States, increasing by over 40 percent in the last 10 years.

The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and the Substitute for General Affairs Archbishop Angelo Becciu presented the Yearbook on May 13 to Pope Francis.

It was edited by several people, including Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, head of the Central Bureau of Statistics of the Church, and Enrico Nenna, the chief statistician in the Vatican’s Central Office for Church Statistics.

The number of Catholics worldwide has remained steady at 1.214 billion for the year 2011.

 

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Two Popes

February 18, 2013 6 Comments

This, from Anglican scholars:


 

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Some Lenten Humour

February 17, 2013 2 Comments

 

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Conclave’s Rituals, Oaths and Secrecy Explained

February 17, 2013 1 Comment

An interesting article over at Boston.com.

 

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Digitalised Manuscripts from the Vatican Library

February 1, 2013 Leave a comment

The Vatican Apostolic Library has uploaded 265 digitalised manuscripts as a part of an ongoing project to digitalise all of its invaluable manuscripts.

 

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Sistine Chapel Visitors to Pass Through Vacuum System

December 22, 2012 1 Comment

Still with the Vatican, I see that Sistine Chapel visitors are going to have to pass through a vacuum system.

Millions of tourists flocking to the Sistine Chapel each year will be required to pass through a vacuum system to remove dust, fibres, skin flakes, hair and other tiny particles before viewing the renowned frescoes.

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Vatican Museum Director Antonio Paolucci said the new hi-tech vacuum system is designed to ensure that visitors are free of environmental pollutants that might damage the 500-year old artwork that adorns the world’s most famous chapel.

Each visitor will be “dusted, cleaned and chilled,” Mr Paolucci said, adding that there will be a carpet that cleans visitors’ shoes, while side vacuums will suck dust from clothes and cool temperatures to reduce heat and humidity that emanate from their bodies in the hot Rome weather.

The new system is expected to be ready sometime in mid 2013. Vatican officials said they are also working on a “virtual tour” that will allow a close-up view of the Sistine Chapel’s most famous works, which attract 20,000 tourists a day.

“It was something sooner or later we were going to have to address,” Mr Paolucci told the Corriere della Sera. “Dust, temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide are the biggest enemies of paintings.”

 

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Push to Stop Sunday Shopping

December 22, 2012 1 Comment

I can remember the days when it was only the Muslim owned cafe on the corner that was open for ‘emergencies’ on Sundays. The rest of the shops were closed. Today, it however seems as if the busiest shopping time of the week is actually after Church on Sundays. Well, the Vatican is working to stop that in Italy:

The Roman Catholic Church, trade unions and small business associations have joined forces in a bid to save Sundays.

In a bid to spur economic growth, outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti backed a new law that allows shops to stay open on the Sabbath.

But Sunday traditions are strong in the European nation, and the change provoked strong resistance from religious and secular groups.

Last month, an Italian shop owners association and the country’s Catholic bishops’ conference launched a campaign to “free up Sundays.” They aim to gather the 50,000 signatures needed to try to repeal the liberalizing shop law.

Confesercenti, the shop owners association, fears that mom-and-pop stores — the backbone of the Italian retail sector — will be squeezed by large retailers and American-style malls.

The issue extends beyond Italy. In Brussels, dozens of religious groups — including the Catholic church — unions and business associations from 27 countries have formed the “European Sunday Alliance” to lobby the European Union to keep Sunday as a continentwide day of rest, at least in principle.

Johanna Touzel, the alliance’s spokeswoman, said setting Sunday aside is not necessarily a religious issue and not discriminatory toward Jews and Muslims. “We need one day when everyone can rest — this is the origin of Shabbat. And in fact, even Muslim organizations support us.”

For the Catholic church, keeping Sundays free from shopping and work concerns is of larger consequence than the economy.

Fr. Marco Scattolon of Camposampiero, Italy, became an instant celebrity when he labeled Sunday shopping a sin and called on his parishioners to do penance for it. Sundays, he told the Corriere del Veneto newspaper, are important “not just in the religious sense.” “They are one of the few occasions left for families to be together.”

Bishop Antonio Mattiazzo of Padua sided with Scattolon while other bishops publicly signed the Confesercenti campaign.

“The broad consensus in opposing Sunday openings shows that having a common weekly day for rest is something that benefits everyone, not just believers,” says Luca Diotallevi, a Catholic sociologist who advises Italy’s bishops on social issues. “Sunday has not just a social value but a theological one too: Man needs to have a holy day.”

Others go even further in arguing for work-free Sundays.

Mimmo Muolo, a journalist for Italy’s official Catholic newspaper Avvenire, in his recent book, Le feste scippate (“The Stolen Holidays”), argues that “the 24/7 retail cycle has reintroduced a system of slaves and masters.” He said employees who have no choice but to work on Sundays — and thus have no time for family and other social activities — are “Sunday slaves.”

At least in Italy, there are signs that few businesses have taken advantage of the reform.

Before the usual Christmas shopping rush kicked in, it was difficult to find many open shops on Sundays outside the tourist areas of the city centers.

“It is pointless because people don’t have enough money to spend,” says Anna Lucentini, 35, a saleswoman on one of Rome’s busiest commercial streets.

She says the only result of the Sunday-opening reform is that employees will have to work more at their bosses’ request. “In Italy, those who still have a job are afraid to lose it and so let themselves be exploited without complaining.”

Still, opposing the liberalization of store opening schedules is winning the church some unexpected sympathy. Lorena Vargas, 21, just learned about the bishops-backed campaign. “For once, the church is doing a good thing,” she says. “I could even start going to Mass.”

 

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The Vatican

December 21, 2012 1 Comment

Coming…

Showtime has ordered “The Vatican,” a contemporary drama thriller centered around the Catholic church, the network announced Thursday.

“The Vatican” is the cable network’s first pilot order for 2013, written by Oscar-nominated Paul Attanasio and set to be directed by Sir Ridley Scott. The project will be Scott’s television directorial debut.

According to Showtime, the drama focuses on “spirituality, power and politics –- set against the modern-day political machinations within the Catholic church. The series will explore the relationships and rivalries as well as the mysteries and miracles behind one of the world’s most hidden institutions.”

Attanasio and Scott will executive produce, along with “The Good Wife’s” David Zucker. Production on the pilot will begin in 2013 for series consideration.

According to Deadline, the project has been compared to “The Sopranos” and “Upstairs Downstairs” and has been a passion project for Attanasio for a number of years.

 

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Vatican Hosts Hezbollah

November 28, 2012 4 Comments

I’m going to have to bite my tongue on this one. Really hard. I wonder, though, how those dwelling in the Vatican are going to feel when the time comes for them to install some anti-missile systems, and they find themselves having to live under an Iron Dome?!

As I said here, the Vatican has entered a very, very dark age. It is understandable, if not forgivable, for the Maronite Patriarch, Bechara Boutros Rai, to play the dhimmi and appease Hizballah, since he lives in Lebanon. However, the Vatican in entertaining Iranian envoys (the second largest diplomatic corps at the Holy See) and tacitly supporting the jihad against Israel has less excuse. The crocodile may indeed eat the good cardinals last, but eat them it will.

“Op-Ed: Exposé: the Vatican Welcomes Iran,” by Giulio Meotti in Israel National News, November 25:

Iran has a large diplomatic corps at the Vatican, considering that it is a Moslem country. And that is not all.Hizbullah’s officials, the Shiite terrorist group based in Lebanon, were hosted in Rome by the Vatican during the recent ceremony for the election of six new cardinals. Among the new cardinals is the Lebanese [Maronite] Patriarch, Bechara Boutros Rai.

As head of Lebanon’s [Maronite] Catholic Church, Rai recently sent his envoy, Father Abdo Abou Kassem, to Teheran to attend a conference in support of the Palestinian Arab Intifada and of a “Zionist-free middle east”. The conference was attended also by Hizbullah ideologue, Mohammad Raad, and by the Hamas’ leader Khaled Meshaal.

Cardinal Rai recently said in Paris that he supports Hizbullah’s war against Israel: “Only when the international community exerts pressure on Israel to vacate the occupied Lebanese territory and Israel allows Palestinians in Lebanon to return to their homes, can Hizbullah be asked to hand over its arms because they will no longer be needed”. It is not clear from the Cardinal’s remarks to which Lebanese territory he was referring, since Israel, in compliance with the UN, had withdrawn from its Lebanon buffer zone years earlier. Rai said his statements reflected the policy of the Vatican.

The coming of an Hizbullah delegation in Rome these days is part of a strong friendship that the Vatican is building with Iranian authorities. It might also be an explanation why during his trip in Austria, Pope Benedict chose not to address the Iranian nuclear question in a key speech to world diplomats in Vienna, which is the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Cardinal Rai recently said in Paris that he supports Hizbullah’s war against Israel. The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Organization for Culture and Islamic Relations just held their eighth meeting in Rome, under the joint chairmanship of the Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran and Iranian Mohammad Bagher Korramshad. The theme of the meeting was “The Catholic and Muslim cooperation to promote justice in the contemporary world”.

An official note says that “the participants were pleased and honored to be received at the end of the meeting by Pope Benedict XVI, who greeted and encouraged them to continue on the path of authentic and fruitful dialogue”.

A delegation of clergy members of Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly also visited the Vatican in Rome. They met with top Catholic officials. “We held talks with the Vatican’s culture minister over the conditions and the popular uprisings in the region and the Vatican minister said that popular uprisings are inspired by the Islamic Revolution in Iran”, a member of the parliament’s Clerics Commission, Hojjatoleslam Hossein Ebrahimi, told Fars News Agency.

Iran has a surprisingly large diplomatic corps at the Vatican (only the Dominican Republic has more diplomats accredited to the Holy See) who have a monthly meeting with the Pope’s advisers. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a high-level delegation to Rome, headed by Mahdi Mostafavi, the president of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization in Tehran, a former foreign minister and one of Ahmadinejad’s trusted men and “spiritual advisers”, with whom he meets “at least twice a week”….

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Vatican Open to a Lutheran Ordinariate

October 30, 2012 13 Comments

Anglican Ink:

The Vatican is open to creating an ecclesial jurisdiction for Lutherans who wish to join the Roman Catholic Church but preserve aspects of their liturgical and ecclesial patrimony, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity has said. In an interview with Zenit published on 24 Oct 2012, Cardinal Kurt Koch said the Vatican would entertain creating a structure similar to the Anglican Ordinariate for Lutherans.

Such a structure was possible due to a convergence of beliefs on certain doctrinal issues, Cardinal Koch said, as progress had been made in the ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Lutherans in Germany.

He noted that the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification signed in August of 1999 had been a “great step forward in the ecumenical dialogue with Lutherans,” and the current talks were centered round discussing the “ecclesiological consequences” of the declaration.

However, “evangelicals have another understanding of the Church” as  compared to Catholics. “It is not enough mutually to recognize one another as a Church. What is needed is a serious theological dialogue on what constitutes the essence of the Church.”

Asked if the Vatican would offer Lutherans an option akin to Anglicanorum coetibus, Cardinal Koch said this was possible.  However he stated he wanted to make it clear that the Anglican Ordinariate “not an initiative of Rome, but came from the Anglican Church.”

“The Holy Father sought a solution” to this request for union from Anglicans and subsequently found a “broad solution” where Anglicans “ecclesial and liturgical traditions were taken into ample consideration. If similar desires are expressed by the Lutherans, then we will have to reflect on them. However, the initiative is up to the Lutherans,” Cardinal Koch said.

The Vatican has created three personal ordinariates over the past two years for former Anglicans: the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham for England and Wales, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter for North America, and the Personal Ordinariate of the Southern Cross for Australia.  Approximately 100 former Anglican clergy and 8 former Anglican bishops have been received and re-ordained to serve the congregations, whose members number approximately 4000.

 

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