Global South as Growing Force in Catholic Church

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | April 05, 2005 | Sophie Arie

[Titanites]

Christianity, and Catholicism in particular, are booming in the global South. The rise is so great, in fact, that Christendom's so-called center of gravity - the point on the globe where roughly the same number of believers live to the north, south, east, and west - is shifting ever further from Rome, not to mention Jerusalem, where Christianity started.

Today, according to a trajectory mapped by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, based in South Hamilton, Mass., the demographic heart of the Christian world has shifted to Timbuktu, in the mostly Muslim African nation of Mali.

It won't be there for long. As the numbers of African Christians multiplies, and as Europe's churches continue to empty, by 2100, the center of gravity will have pushed deeper south, to Sokoto, Nigeria. By then, experts estimate, there will be three times more Christians in the global South than in the North.

SOURCE: GLOBAL CATHOLICISM: PORTRAIT OF A WORLD CHURCH

DATA FROM WORLD CHRISTIAN TRENDS, WCL 2001; MAP BY GLOBAL MAPPING INTERNATIONAL - WWW.GMI.ORG; ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN "INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MSSION" (2004)

[Titanites]

This is just an excerpt. Read the full article at Global South as Growing Force in Catholic Church.

[Titanites]

This article is posted partially in response to this comment by ears_to_hear.

[iowamark]

Great map. Follows the flow of Christian civilization and the results of pagan and Muslim invasions.

[Salvation]

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