Posted on 03/17/2026 3:10:15 PM PDT by ebb tide
The Catholic Church in Germany lost nearly 550,000 members in 2025 and only recorded 25 priestly ordinations nationwide.
The German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) has published preliminary figures for 2025 across all German dioceses, showing another year of a massive exodus from the Church.
Around 307,000 people left the Catholic Church, while 2,269 joined and 5,443 were readmitted. However, if one factors in the deaths, the Church shrank by 549,636 persons compared to the previous year. This represents a slight decrease from the previous year, when the Church lost around 575,000 members.
Most notably, only 25 priests were consecrated in all German dioceses, excluding religious orders, which are recorded separately.
The number of baptisms has declined once again, with 109,028 recorded in 2025 compared to 116,274 in 2024. The same applies to Catholic weddings, which numbered 19,478 (2024: 22,513). The numbers remained stable for First Communions at 152,357 (2024: 151,702) and for Confirmation, at 105,334 (2024: 105,041). The number of parishes fell from 9,291 to 8,997 due to structural reform prompted by fewer practicing believers.
Weekly church attendance was recorded at 6.8 percent, a very slight increase from the previous year (2024: 6.6 percent).
The second largest institutional Christian community in the country, the Protestant Church in Germany, recorded approximately 350,000 people who left in 2025. The Protestant Church had circa 17.4 million members by the end of 2025, while the Catholic Church had about 19.2 million (around 23% of the total population).
The heterodox, pro-LGBT head of the DBK, Bishop Heiner Wilmer of Hildesheim, commented on the figures: “The figures for the year 2025, which we are publishing today as the Church in Germany, are a reflection of our Church. I am grateful for the dedicated work of the full-time staff in our Church and also for the quality of pastoral care. It is a positive sign that church attendance is once again showing a slight increase. And I see it as a positive sign that the numbers for First Communion and Confirmation have remained stable.”
“At the same time, I regret the still high number of people leaving the Church. The reasons vary, and yet I say—because we are a community of believers through Baptism and Confirmation—that every departure from the Church pains us,” he continued. “There are fewer and fewer Christians in Germany, but that does not prevent us—despite all the necessary measures involved—from bearing witness to our faith with great personal commitment.”
Critics of the heretical German “Synodal Way” have noted that the so-called “reform project” has not stopped people from leaving the Church in masses and have said that the bishops’ adoption of the Zeitgeist and leftist ideology has fueled the mass exodus of believers.
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Ping
The wages of sin is death ...
I vaguely recall in Germany, the state takes a percentage of your income and gives it to church where you are a member. With the economic upheaval in Germany, many may feel they need to do this combined with the German bishops pushing the gay agenda.
Yeah, but they probably gain at least 250,000 Muslims a year, so there is that.
Germany is seeing a 100 % increase in Eastern Orthodox Christians (now around 3.8–4 million), mainly due to immigration from Orthodox-majority countries and Ukraine, while Catholic (≈19.8 million) and Protestant (≈18 million) numbers decline.
The government subsidizes the Catholic church. If you’re a member, the goverment forces you to tithe.
Not surprising that a moslem country produces so few Christian priests...
It’s ok. Think of all the mosques you’ve gained. Adolph would be proud.
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