Mission Sunday 2021

       Vatican, 22 October 2021 -- As is the case for every last Sunday of October, also 24 October this year all Catholic believers are invited to celebrate 'World Mission Sunday', called by the Pope and animated by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP) since 1925.

Cardinal Antonio Jose Tagle (Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples) has recently said, in view of 24 October: "We cannot keep to ourselves the encounter with God who has touched our hearts and who has done marvelous works.

       Like the apostles, let us share the love that we have experienced. What we have received from God is a gift to others. And the more we share it, the more our faith grows. If we keep it to ourselves, our faith weakens over time. If we keep it in a small group, it becomes the business of an elite. Missionaries are inspired by the love of God to come out of themselves, of their fears, to reach all nations, geographical and existential. For a fundamental reason: gratitude. They are grateful people."

       The annual statistics of the world-wide Catholic Church are always good motivation, since they show us the working of the Holy Spirit in vocations, missionary frontiers and missionary challenges. A short video (Catholic Church in 2019, Dec 31) is a good animation tool:

• Catholic Church faithful increase: 15 million worldwide (17.74% of global population)
• Bishops: 5364 (+13 bishops from the previous year)
• Priests: 414,336 (+271 more than in the previous year) (Diocesan priests 282,146 and Religious priests 132,000)
• Permanent Deacons 48,239 (+734 more than in the previous year)
• Religious Brothers 50,295 (-646 fewer than the previous year)
• Religious Sisters 630,099 (-11,562 fewer than in the previous year)
• Secular institute members 582 male and 20.913 female
• Lay missionaries 410,440 (+34,252 increase)
• Catechists 3,074,034 (-2590 fewer)
• Minor seminarians 96,990 (3174 fewer)
• Major seminarians 114,058 (1822 fewer, only increase in Africa+509)
  • Diocesan seminarians: 68,609 (-1350 fewer)
  • Religious seminarians: 45,449 (-427 fewer)

       Catholic schools and education

       In the field of education, the Catholic Church runs 72,667 kindergartens with 7,532,992 pupils; 98,925 primary schools with 35,188,771 pupils; 49,552 secondary schools with 19,370,763 pupils. The Church also looks after 2,395,540 high school pupils and 3,833,012 university students.

• Video - Statistics of the Catholic Church (2 min)
• Dossier - Catholic Church statistics (2020-2021) and Pope Francis Message (2021)
• Related news article: AustraLasia 5487 (I) Our Global Catholic community is growing

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