Catholics worldwide register increase

The Catholic population in the world in 2004 increased by 12 million compared to 2003, according to the latest figures released by the Vatican. The statistics for 2003 and 2004 were contained in Vatican's annual yearbook, called the Annuario Pontificio for 2006, which was presented to Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday. According to the yearbook, the number of Catholics in the world grew from 1 billion 86 million in 2003 to 1 billion 98 million in 2004 - an increase of 1.1 percent. But in comparison to the world population, which grew from 6.301 billion in 2003 to 6.388 billion in 2004, the Catholic population shrunk by 0.1 percent. Catholics in 2003 formed 17.2% of the world population, whereas in 2004 the percentage declined to 17.1%. In the same period, 170 bishops were nominated around the world. The number of priests in the world in 2004 grew by 441 to 405,891; but this growth was not uniform in all the continents. There were 1,422 and 840 more priests in Asia and Africa respectively in 2004, whereas in the Americas and Oceania the number remained practically stationary. In 2004, there were 1,876 fewer priests in Europe compared to 2003. However, the number of permanent deacons in North America and Europe has increased to 32,324.