Catholic Vital Statistics

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 37, 20 September 1923, Page 21

Catholic Vital Statistics

LATEST FIGURES AVAILABLE. The* total Catholic population of the world (according to the Catholic Directory for 1923, just published by Messrs'! Burns, Oates, and V’ashbourno, Ltd., London) now stands at the huge figure of 316,888,975. This total includes tho Tallin Rites and Rites other than Latin. It should bo noted, however, that it does not comprise the results of tho British Empire and other census takings of 1920-21. Catholic Expansion in the Empire. lie Catholics of the British Empire total 14,439,941, an increase of 253,630 on last year’s figures given by the same authority.

The total for the American possessions is 29,015,774 (an increase of 1,829,104 on the total for 1922), whir the figures for the British Empire, makes a' grand total of 43,455,715 Catholics in English-speaking countries. Archbishops and bishops in England and Wales number 21 j priests, secular -and regular, 3935; churches, chapels, and stations, 1948. Archbishops and bishops in Scotland number 7; priests, secular and regular, 601; churches, chapels, and stations, 425. '

Progress in England. The Catholic population of England and Wales (estimated in 1921) was 1,965,787, an increase of 33,796 on the previous year's total; that of Scotland (estimated in 1920), 001,304. ■.-....■

The Catholics of Ireland (indicated by Government returns for 1911 out of a total population of 4,390,219) number 3,242,670. .

Conversions in the various dioceses of England and Wales in 1921 reached the grand total of 11,621. Westminster Archdiocese heads the list with 1837. Liverpool Archdiocese comes next with 1638, and the Diocese of Salford shows the very satisfactory figure of 1422. An interesting commentary on the universality of the Church of especial interest to our many non-Catholic readers is that confessions in the London churches (as in many provincial centres) are regularly heard in Chinese, Dutch, Flemish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, and other languages. .

In the Holy Land. ( '■/■ .- A correspondent in Bethlehem sends us some" very interesting information with regard to the official census recently taken,in Palestine, says the Universe.- This, apparently, is the first systematic attempt to obtain the complete . returns of the population. In the past there has been considerable opposition on the part of the people

to any official census. This was largely due to the repugnance of the Mussulmans to give the numbers of their wives and daughters for the fear that the census might be used for the purpose of conscription.

The complete returns give a total population of 757,189. Of these the Mohammedans number 590,890 Jews, 83,794; Latin Catholics, 14,245; Greek Catholics, 11,191; Armenian Catholics, 1271; Maronites, 2120; Schismatic Greeks, 33,369; Schismatic Armenians, 2939; Church of England, 4553; in addition to some smaller groups. These figures are interesting, proving as they do the great preponderance of the Moslems over the Jews, who form one-ninth of the total population, and whose numbers are only slightly in excess of the Christian inhabitants.