[Cronos]

Very true, there are 1.2 billion Catholics, but do you consider that 300 million are in Latin America, 200 million in Africa and some 100 million more in se Asia? As for post Christian catholic lands, southern Germany, France, Spain and Portugal, do those count? How about that nice big Mosque in Rome, right near the Vatican, biggest Mosque in all of Europe?

The 300 million in South America + those in Africa and Asia etc are all part of the Western Church. Southern Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Portugal -- have you been there lately? Except for France, the church is still vibrant in the other places. Even IN France, it is vibrant in the countryside.

The Mosque is not IN Rome, it is outside the precincts of Rome -- the Pope's influence on the civil government of Italy only extended so far. And the largest mosque in Europe was, until recently, the Hagia Sophia and now it is the London Mosque near the London zoo.

[jb6]

Very true, they are part of the Western Church, but they are not Westerners. Just the same, I do not count the Orthodox in Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Cameroon, Uganda, Syria, Turkey, Kazakstan, Armenia, Korea, China, India or Indonesia. I was strickly speaking of Western culture (aka Europeans). It is very true that there are hundreds of millions of very devout and religious catholics in S.America and Africa, I was just pointing out the issue with the West, particularly western/central Europe.