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This article is noteworthy for the information that's missing, either because it wasn't part of the original study, or it didn't fit the general thrust of the article.

The study disingenuously uses 1978 as its starting point, to suggest that John Paul II's pontificate has been one in which vocations have flourished, and that the Church is coming along just fine.

Starting from the nadir of the post-Vatican II mess is a great way to make a dead-cat bounce look like real growth.

Yet over the course of John Paul II's reign, the total number of priests has fallen about 4%. The more telling figure would be the ratio of priests to laity.

A growth of 75% in the number of seminarians worldwide looks like an impressive figure; but consider what year that growth is being measured from.

Look also at the 9% growth in seminarians in Europe. It looks healthy until you consider that much of that growth probably comes from two sources; the re-opening of seminaries in countries formerly behind the Iron Curtain, and the increasing numbers of Third World seminarians sent to Europe. Factor those out, and the collapse of the Church in Her Western European heartland continues unabated.

Finally, the 20% fall in the number of women religious. No amount of fiddling the figures can hide the collapse of women's religious orders and their novitiates.

The implications for the Church that the extinction of women's religious orders raises are too many to count, but they are horrible.