VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service
Vatican City, 13 May 2013 (VIS) – This morning, Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., and Archbishop Angelo Becciu, substitute for General Affairs, presented the Holy Father with the 2013 edition of the “Annuario Pontificio” (Pontifical Yearbook, the Holy See’s annual directory), in the presence of the officials responsible for compiling and printing the volumes. The “Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae” (the Church’s Statistical Yearbook), which the same discastery is also responsible for, was also presented.
A reading of the information given shows some changes relative to the life of the Catholic Church in the world from 2012 to the election of Pope Francis.
In that period, it is noteworthy that there were erected: 11 new episcopal Sees; two personal ordinariates; one apostolic vicariate; and one apostolic prefecture. Also, one territorial prelature was elevated to the rank of diocese and two apostolic exarchates were elevated to the rank of eparchies.
The statistical information, which refers to the year 2011, reveals details about the Catholic Church in the 2,979 ecclesiastical circumscriptions around the planet. The number of Catholics in the world increased from 1.196 million in 2010 to 1.214 million in 2011, an increase of eighteen million faithful, corresponding to a growth of 1.5%. Over the last three years the presence of baptised Catholics in the world has remained stable at around 17.5%.
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