Catholic statistics.

Vatican City--In May, 2006, the Vatican press office released the latest edition of the "Statistical Yearbook of the Church." It covers the 26 years from 1978 to 2004, almost the entire pontificate of Pope John Paul II.

The number of Catholics worldwide grew in that time from 757 million to 1.09 billion, as compared to the world population, which increased from 4.2 to 6.4 billion.

The number of priests worldwide fell from 420,971 to 405,891, a 3.5% decrease. In Europe the priest number decreased by 20% (250,498 to 199,978) but Africa and Asia have shown notable increases, 16,926 to 31,259 in the first case and 27,700 to 48,222 in the other. The numbers for priests in religious orders have decreased globally by more than 13% except in Asia (Zenit.org, May 22, 2006).

The figures, set against John Paul II's reign, are somewhat misleading. They do not reflect the gradual recovery from much lower figures in the early nineteen-eighties at the height of the Church's internal theological dissent.