Africa’s Catholic Population Surpasses Europe’s, Fides Statistics Show

Catholic leaders in Africa have described the Church’s growth on the continent as an opportunity to share its faith, vocations and missionary experience with the universal Church, while also continuing to receive gifts from other local Churches.

According to the latest statistics published by Agenzia Fides, Africa’s Catholic population has now surpassed Europe’s, rising to 288.3 million compared with Europe’s 287.2 million. Africa now has the second-largest Catholic population, after the Americas, which the organization counts as one region. The data comes from the Church’s Book of Statistics, which is updated yearly, and the latest edition includes figures through Dec. 31, 2024.

Fides reports that the world’s Catholic population stands at 1.4 billion, an overall increase of 15.8 million over the previous year. As in previous years, the largest increases were in Africa and the Americas, followed by Asia, Europe and Oceania. Africa recorded the largest increase in Catholics, adding 7.58 million, compared with 6.99 million in the Americas. Africa also gained 1,676 priests, the largest continental increase, while the worldwide net increase was 425 priests.

The report also states that Africa was the only continent to register growth in seminarians, adding 786, while the global total declined by 2,891. In responses shared with ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, Catholic leaders pointed to families, catechists, pastoral presence and the witness of missionaries among the factors they believe have contributed to the growth.

Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala of the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio in South Sudan said the findings were a reason for gratitude and renewed missionary responsibility. “Having received the gift of faith through the missionary witness of others, we are now blessed to share that gift with the universal Church,” Hiiboro said. He has been bishop of Tombura-Yambio since 2008 and also serves as president of the Integral Human Development Commission of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference. He said that growth of faith is not a competition. “Africa is not competing with any continent in the growth of faith. We are part of one universal Church, united in Christ and enriched by the gifts of different peoples and cultures,” he said.

Father Vincent Simba, rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Senior Seminary in Nairobi, said the increase in Catholics and priests offers hope for Africa and the universal Church. He expressed hope that Africa would have opportunities to send missionaries to the places from which the continent received the Christian faith.

Bishop Joseph Kacou Aka of the Diocese of Yamoussoukro in Ivory Coast said the figures are an invitation to deepen communion among local Churches. “Africa is called to share its gifts: its vocations, its community experience, its theological reflection, and its witness of faith,” he said. “But mission remains a fraternal exchange in which each Church both gives and receives.”

Source: Read the original report