tvc.dsj.org | June 19, 2018 VIETNAMESE
NEWS
17
Worldwide Number of Catholics Grows to 1.4 billion
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The num-
ber of Catholics worldwide is growing -
there are almost 1.4 billion - the number
of bishops is growing -5353 - the number
of priests is stable - over 400 thousand
- the number of permanent deacons is
growing - they are 46.312. Instead there
is a drop in the number of religious
women - over 52 thousand - the number
of religious men - 659 thousand - and
vocations - 116,160. These are the most
significant data that emerge from the
publication of the Annuarium Statisti-
cum Ecclesiae 2016, published together
with the Pontifical Yearbook 2018.
The first fact is that the number of
baptized Catholics in the world has in-
creased from 1285 million in 2015 to 1299
million in 2016, with an overall increase
of 1.1%. This increase is l ower than the
average annual increase recorded dur-
ing the period 2010-2015 (1.5 percent);
and the growth is little less than that of the world population, so that the relative
presence of baptized Catholics is down
by only a few thousand: from 17.73
Catholics per 100 inhabitants in 2015 to
17.67 in the following year.
In this context, America remains the
continent in which the greatest number
of Catholics - it gathers 48.6 percent of
the baptized globally - and Africa the
fastest growing - the number of Catho-
lics has passed from 185 million in 2010
to over 228 million in 2016, with a rela-
tive variation of 23.2%. In Asia there has
been moderate growth for the continent
home to over 60% of the planet’s popula-
tion. 76 percent of Catholics in Southeast
Asia are concentrated in the Philippines
(with a number of Catholics equal to 85
million in 2016) and in India (22 million).
Over the years between 2010 and
2016, the number of bishops rose by
4.88 percent, from 5104 in 2010 to 5353
in 2016.
Vietnamese rights lawyer, Nguyen Van Dai
(center), stands in a courtroom during his trial
in Hanoi, on April 5. A Christian human rights lawyer
sentenced to 15 years in prison in April
has been released from jail and put on
a flight to Germany, a pro-democracy
group said.
Prominent rights lawyer Nguyen
Van Dai, and fellow jailed Brotherhood
for Democracy group member Le Thu
Ha were released from prison in Hanoi
late on June 7, the group said.
Their reported release came a day
after 90 NGO’s wrote to the European
Union calling on the bloc to reject
In the period 2010-2016, the number
of priests as a whole increased by 0.7
percent, from 412.236 to 414.969 units.
However, when the diocesan and reli-
gious priests are analysed separately,
it is noted that in the face of a growth
of the former (1.55 percent), there is a
significant numerical decline (relative
decrease of 1.4 percent). In the various
continents the dynamics appear to be
contrasted. Religious priests, with the
exception of a few increasing exceptions
such as Africa, the South-East Asian
area and Central-continental America,
are in general declining.
The permanent deacons is the fastest
growing group of clerics. The average
annual increase over the period 2010-
2015 was equal to 2.88 percent, globally,
and continued in 2016, albeit at a slower
pace (2.34 percent); 46,312 compared to
the 39,564 recorded in 2010. The territo-
rial divergences remain very marked:
in the years from 2010 to 2015 the most
significant growth rates occur in Asia
and in South America and in the central-
continental area, while the slowest are
recorded in North America, Europe
and Africa.
In 2016, the number of professed
religious brothers was 52.625 with 8731
in Africa, 14.818 in America, 12.320
in Asia, 15,390 in Europe and 1366 in
Oceania. The decrease that occurred
during the period 2010-2015, contin-
ued and in 2016 the group, worldwide,
decreased by 3 percent.
The number of professed women
religious in 2010 was 722 thousand and
it was declining. In 2016 there were
659 thousand (-8.7%). The contraction
recorded in the number of professed
religious in the world is substantially
attributable to a considerable increase
in deaths, the result of a high presence
of religious in old age.
Vietnam Frees, Exiles Jailed Christian Human Rights Lawyer
a touted free trade agreement with
Vietnam until it releases all political
prisoners and upholds human rights.
Hanoi says there are no political
prisoners in Vietnam.
Nguyen, 48, was arrested on Dec.
16, 2015 and charged with attempting
to overthrow the communist gov-
ernment and sentenced to 15 years
in prison and another five years of
probation.
Le, his former assistant, was ar-
rested at the same time and given a
9-year jail term followed by another
three years under house arrest. Both
Nguyen and Le, were said to be in poor
health after having been detained in
prison for 30 months.
A Catholic priest, who wished to
remain anonymous, said the govern-
ment likely exiled the pair “because it
could not break their will.”
The priest said Nguyen helped
form the Brotherhood for Democracy
in 2013 to spread human rights and
democratic values in Vietnam.
Jubilee of the Vietnamese Martyrs: a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference
of Vietnam has just announced that
the 30th anniversary of the canonisa-
tion of 117 Vietnamese martyrs will
be celebrated starting on 19 June until
24 November 2018, the feast day of the
martyrs.
As part of the Jubilee celebrations,
the bishops will encourage the faithful
to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land;
in particular, those who live abroad
and who, for various reasons, cannot
return to Vietnam. For their part, the
prelates plan to go to the Holy Land for
two special events.
The first one will be the erection of
the statue of Our Lady of La Vang in the
garden of the Church of Our Lady of
the Ark of the Covenant, at 756 metres
above sea level, on the north-western
edge of the city of Abu Gosh (central
Israel).
On 18 October, Mgr Giuse (Joseph)
Nguyễn Chí Linh, archbishop of Huế
and president of the Bishops’ Confer-
ence, will preside over the unveiling
of the statue.
La Vang, in Quảng Trị province, is
where Our Lady appeared 220 years
ago to console the faithful who had
fled into the jungle to escape waves of
persecution.
The second event in the Holy Land
will take place the following day, 19
October, when Mgr Nguyễn will cel-
ebrate Mass in the Church of the Be-
atitudes along with other bishops from
Vietnam and the Diaspora. It will be
an opportunity for him to bless a stele
inscribed with the eight Beatitudes in
Vietnamese.
Fr. Paul Văn Chi, from the archdio-
cese of Sydney, Australia, welcomes the
initiative. To that end, he wants to orga-
nise a group of pilgrims from Australia
to travel to Jerusalem for the event.
For him, “What better place to
meditate about the testimonies of the
martyrs, if not the same places where
the memory of our redemption has
been kept alive for more than 2,000
years.”
Fr. Anthony Nguyễn Hữu Quảng,
a Salesian in Melbourne, has visited
Israel so many times that he cannot
remember the number.
“Walking in the footsteps of Jesus,
Mary, Joseph and the disciples helps us
deepen our faith and understand the
context in which Christians live in the
Holy Land today,” he said.
“Like those who were forced to
leave behind everything to seek free-
dom and a life of dignity, we under-
stand clearly the outcry of our brothers
and sisters in the Holy Land who have
to continue to suffer difficulties, chal-
lenges, and insecurity,” he said.
“Let us show them concretely our
closeness. Pilgrimages are a form of
sustenance for the survival of thou-
sands of Christian families,” he added.
“It would be wonderful if we could
organise a large pilgrimage of Catho-
lics from Vietnam and the Diaspora,”
said Archbishop Nguyễn Chí Linh.
At present, many are worried be-
cause of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, especially the latest protests
in Gaza and the West Bank following
US President Donald Trump’s decision
to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.
Conflict notwithstanding, several
groups of Vietnamese Catholics in
the United States and Australia say
they will go ahead with plans for the
pilgrimage to the Holy Land for this
occasion.