Vatican City, Apr 6, 2017 / 10:20 am
According to Vatican statistics released Thursday, the Church in the Americas lags behind globally when it comes to the number of seminarians per number of Catholics.
In 2015, the Americas had 53.6 seminarians per one million Catholics, trailing just behind Europe with 65.0 seminarians per million Catholics. This is in comparison to Asia's 245.7 and Africa's 130.6 seminarians per million Catholics.
The Americas' low seminarian rate occurs despite the continent's hold on the highest percentage of baptized Catholics in the world – 49 percent.
These and other statistics, released by the Vatican April 6, are contained within the 2017 Pontifical Yearbook, and the 2015 "Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae." These volumes, compiled by the Central Office of Church Statistics and edited by the Vatican Press, are being distributed in bookstores now.