” “From 2004 to 2005, the number of Catholics in the world went from slightly more than 1,098 million to about 1,115 million, going up by 1.5%. Since this relative growth was quite close to the increase in the world population (1.2%), the presence of Catholics in the world was essentially unchanged (17.20%). It was the outcome of the Pontifical Yearbook 2007, today submitted to the Pope by Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and Deputy Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Msgr. Leonardo Sandri. The geographical analysis of variations in two years – it was written in the text, – relating to the situation of the Catholic Church in the 2,915 ecclesiastical districts all over the world pointed out a 3.1% increase in the number of Catholics in Africa, which nevertheless increased its population slightly less than 2.5%. In the Asian and American continents, too, the increase in the number of Catholics was higher than population increase (2.71% against 1.18% for Asia; and 1.2% against 0.9% for America). In Europe, there was a little increase in the number of Catholics, while the number of the current population is nearly static. During 2006, 12 new episcopal sees, 9 metropolitan sees and 1 apostolic administration were founded by the Pope; the new bishops were 180. (To be continued)” “
