The Catholic Weekly 12 April 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 17 12, April, 2020 W orld Church stays shut Catholic numbers up Pope warns against overcrowded prisons While nation begins to open up, authorities keep churches closed CATHOLICS ARE increasing worldwide, reaching 1,329 million, the number of per- manent bishops and deacons is growing, but priests, semi- narians and religious are de- creasing. These are the figures re- leased by the Churches’ Cen- tral Statistics Office which drafts the Pontifical Yearbook 2020 and the Annuarium Statisticum Eccleasiae 2018. Between 2013 and 2018, there was an increase of about 6 per cent of Catholics world- wide, which went from almost 1,254 to 1,329 million, for an increase of 75 million people. Of the total number of Catholics, 48 ​per cent live in America, 21.5 ​per cent in Eu- rope and 11.1 ​per cent in Asia, where there was a particular increase. As of 2018, Catholics are just under 18 per cent of the world’s population. The number of Catholics in Asia grew slightly from 10.9 to 11.1 per cent, but it is con- siderably less than what the continent has per population (about 60 per cent in 2018). In the same period, bish- ops increased by more than 3.9 per cent, from 5,173 to 5,377, with a very marked in- crease in Oceania (+4.6 per WHILE COUNTRIES have en- forced social distancingmeas- ures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Pope Fran- cis warned of serious conse- quences if the same measures aren’t applied to overcrowded prisons. During the live broadcast of his morning Mass on 6 April, the pope said that un- less authorities make efforts CHINA HAS lifted curbs on Hubei province, the epicentre of the Covid-19 breakout, but restrictions on religious plac- es continue, casting doubt on when churches can start func- tioning normally. Although authorities eased curbs on Hubei on 25 March, capital Wuhan, where the new coronavirus emerged, was due to wait until at least 8 April to lift restrictions. Wu- han, a city of 11 million peo- ple, has recorded 60 per cent of about 81,500 Covid-19 cas- es in China. Even as restrictions were relaxed, the country contin- ued to report new infections. On 31 March, China’s Na- tional Health Commission reported 36 new cases. It said 35 were “imported,” meaning they involved people arriving from elsewhere. Officially, China has re- ported 81,554 confirmed cas- es and 3,312 deaths. Of these, 3,193 deaths were from Hubei province. The communist govern- ment has not permitted churches to open for regu- lar liturgical programs on grounds that the concentra- tion of people could cause a relapse of Covid-19, said Fa- ther Zhang, who lives in Hu- bei. “Churches havenot opened their doors. Local government authorities are not permitting it. In the case of an outbreak, they are afraid of being held accountable,” the priest said. He said a parish near him that held Masses on the last two Sundays was report- ed by villagers. “Authorities came and put a notice on the church door prohibiting ser- vices,” he said. “I’m not sure if they are worried about the coronavi- rus or trying to suppress the Church,” Father Zhang said. With no official informa- tion on when churches can function regularly, Catholics were unsure if they could cel- ebrate the Passion Week that began on 4 April and leads to Easter on 12 April, Catho- ¾ ¾ UCA News reporter Seminarians pray at St Joseph Pontifical Seminary of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India’s Kerala state. The world’s Catholic numbers are up, but priests and religious are down. PHOTO: CNS, MONS JOHN KOZAR, COURTESY OF CNEWA Virus potential: inmates gather inside a jail in North Cotabato, Phil- ippines. PHOTO: CNS PHOTO/MARCONI NAVALES, REUTERS cent), followed by America and Asia (both with +4, 5 per cent), Europe (+4.1 per cent) and Africa (+1.4 per cent). From the beginning of 2019, four new dioceses, one eparchy, two territorial prela- tures, an apostolic exarchate and an apostolic administra- tion were erected. On the other hand, the number of priests fell, de- creasing by 0.3 per cent. Be- tween 2013 and 2014 priests increased by 1,400 but de- creased between 2016 and 2018. In contrast, vocations in Africa and Asia grew, respec- tively by 14.3 and 11 per cent. In America the number of priests is stationary at ap- proximately 123,000 but in Europe and Oceania priestly numbers dropped 7 per cent and just over 1 per cent re- to solve the problem of over- crowded prisons everywhere, “there is a danger that this pandemic will end in a seri- ous calamity. “Let us pray for those re- sponsible, for those who have to make decisions at this time, so that they may find just and creative ways to solve this problem,” he said at the start of the Mass. - CNS lic leaders said. Paul Zhao, a Catholic of Wuhan Diocese, said that “a small area is now open” but only those with a government-issued health certificate can access it. Zhao said the government did not let his local church open and may be afraid that the pandemic will return. “After all, this epidemic was so serious that all are afraid. Even now, if the churches are open, not many will dare to go. It will take some time for churches to have normal attendances … maybe a year. No one wants to invite trou- ble … the past days have been dreadful,” he said. Juan Liu, another member of Wuhan Diocese, is worried that if church closures and fear of gathering in churches continue, “everyone’s faith is going to slide.” Maria Wei of Jingzhou Dio- cese in Hubei province in cen- tral China said that although restrictions on her area have been lifted, “the situation is still not optimistic. It is said that asymptomatic infections can also be transmitted, so we are all worried.” “It’s good that the church is not open because we don’t even know how many asymp- tomatic infected people will be there. We have to avoid this horrible infection,” she said. Catholics also noted that not only churches but also all places of gatherings are closed for fear of a return of Covid-19. - ucanewa.com This article first appeared at www.ucanews.com spectively. The distribution of priests across the continents is characterised in 2018 by a strong prevalence of Europe- an priests (41.3 per cent) and American clergy (40 per cent). Asian clergy account for 16.5 per cent, the African cler- gy for 11.5 per cent and that of Oceania for 1.1 per cent. Across the five years, there has been a growth in the num- ber of Asian clergy (from 14.8 to 16.5 per cent) and African clergy (from 10.1 to 11.5 per cent), while for the European clergy there has been a dra- matic drop from 44.3 per cent to 41.3 per cent. The situation is identical for the American clergy (29.6 per cent) in the two years consid- ered. The number of seminar- ians is also in decline: from 118,251 in 2013 to 115,880 in 2018, with a decrease of -2 per cent. The drop, with the exception of Africa, affects all continents with far-reaching reductions for Europe (-15.6 per cent) and America (-9.4 per cent). The number of consecrat- ed men religious continues to decline (-8 per cent), the number passing from over 55,000 to less than 51,000. The downward trend is common to the various continents with the exception of Africa and Asia which recorded +6.8 per cent and +3.6 per cent. Even for professed women religious there is a strongly downward trend with a 7.5 per cent contraction. The total number of pro- fessed women religious, in fact, decreased from almost 694,000 in 2013 to less than 642,000 five years later. The decline affects three continents (Europe, Oceania and America), with significant negative variations (-15 per cent in Europe, -14.8 per cent in Oceania and -12 per cent in America). In Africa and Asia, howev- er, the increase is decidedly strong, exceeding 9 per cent for Africa and + 2.6 per cent for Asia. - CNS Authorities put a notice prohibiting church services ... I’m not sure if they are worried about coronavirus or trying to suppress the church” Fr Zhang Hubei Province Across the five years, there has been a growth in the number of Asian clergy (from 14.8 to 16.5 per cent) and African clergy (from 10.1 to 11.5 per cent), while for the European clergy there has been a dramatic drop from 44.3% to 41.3%.