Vatican Releases statistics on the Church in Brazil

Salt + Light Media

June 20, 2013

PILGRIMS LIGHT CANDLES AT BASILICA IN BRAZIL

As World Youth Day draws near, the Vatican today released statistics about the Church in Brazil. For your reference we've included the published bulletin below:

Vatican City, 20 June 2013 (VIS) For the occasion of Francis' upcoming apostolic trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to preside at the 38th World Youth Day, statistics have been published concerning the Catholic Church in that country. The information, updated to 31 December 2011, comes from the Central Statistical Office of the Church. The Pope's journey is scheduled from 22 to 29 July.
Brazil covers a surface area of 8,514,215 square kilometres and has population of 195,041,000 of whom 164,780,000 (84.48%) are Catholic. There are 274 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 10,802 parishes, and 37,827 pastoral centres. Currently there are 453 bishops, 20,701 priests, 33,230 religious, and 2,903 permanent deacons. There are also 1,985 lay members of secular Institutes, 144,910 lay missionaries, and 483,104 catechists. Minor seminarians number 2,671 and major seminarians 8,956.
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