Posted on 11/11/2021 6:14:09 PM PST by marshmallow
There were a total of 31, 793 priests in 2020 compared to 38,209 in 1990, marking a 16.5% drop in 30 years, totalling 6,416 fewer priests. But in the last ten years alone the number of clergy has dropped by 11%. This decline has been partly counterbalanced by increasing numbers of foreign priests entering Italy to serve in Italian dioceses. "These figures should be no cause for alarm. However, they should be examined seriously because they touch on the issue of vocations potential in our Italian Churches, on the prospects of youth and school pastoral ministry, and on the life and ministry of priests and communities of consecrated life", remarked Fr Michele Gianola, Under-Secretary of the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI) and Director of the CEI National Office for the Pastoral Care of Vocations.
If they were all gathered in one place, the number of Italian diocesan priests would fill the Via del Mare Stadium in the city of Lecce. In fact, there was a total of 31,793 priests in the year 2020. They totalled 38,209 in 1990, marking a 16.5% drop in 30 years, and totalling 6,416 fewer priests. But in the last ten years alone the number of clergy has dropped by 11%. This decline has been partly counterbalanced by increasing numbers of foreign priests entering Italy to serve in Italian diocese, highlighted also in the survey on seminarians.
Specifically, this figure represents an over tenfold increase: from 204 in 1990 to 2,631 in 2020. With respect to the overall population, while in 2000 only 3.4% of priests were foreign nationals, this figure reached 6.6% in 2010 and 8.3% in 2020. Thus the number of Italian priests alone has fallen by 19.8% (from 36,350 in 2000 to 29,162 in 2020) while non-Italian priests now make up 8.3% of......
(Excerpt) Read more at agensir.it ...
Maybe they’re finding out the joys of sex the right way.
Probably good news. African and Asian Catholics will bring Catholicism back to Europe.
I’ll say it with no sarcasm: Doing a job Italians will not do.
I hope so.
Hasn't that almost always been the case? I mean, since the War?
Regards,
Vatican II has brought out the best....
even in Italy they don’t want to breed....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.