Chart of the week: Under Pope Francis, Catholicism grew in Global South as number of priests dropped

Africa is now home to 20 per cent of world's Catholic population, as church leadership shifted away from Europe

During Pope Francis's papacy, the global Catholic population steadily grew, particularly across Africa and the Americas. However, this did not coincide with an increase in the number of priests, which declined in several regions.

According to data from the Pontifical Yearbook 2025 and the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2023, the number of Catholics around the world increased by 1.15% between 2022 and 2023, rising from 1.39 billion to 1.406 billion. That annual rate of growth has remained consistent in the past few years.

The sharpest increase was in Africa, which recorded a growth rate of 3.31 per cent. The continent now accounts for 20 per cent of the global Catholic population, with the highest number in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is home to 55 million baptised Catholics. That is followed by Nigeria with 35 million.

The Americas represent the largest share of Catholics, being home to 47.8 per cent of the total population. There has been a growth rate of 0.9 per cent in the past year.

Europe, by contrast, recorded a decline. Between 2013 – when Pope Francis began his papacy – and 2022, its Catholic population dropped by 1.5 million. Its share of the global population fell from 39.9 per cent to 39.5 per cent.

Despite the increase in worshippers, the number of priests worldwide dropped to 406,996 in 2023, a 0.2 per cent decrease compared to the previous year. While Africa and Asia reported moderate increases in the number of priests being ordained, Europe, Oceania and the Americas all recorded declines.

The distribution of priests in 2023 was also uneven. Europe still holds the largest share at 38.1 per cent, followed by the Americas (29.1 per cent), Asia (18.2 per cent), Africa (13.5 per cent) and Oceania (1.1 per cent).

Historically, the church hierarchy has been dominated by Europeans. More than 75 per cent of popes have come from what is now Italy, while no non-Italian pope was elected for more than 450 years until Pope John Paul II was elected in 1978.

Pope Francis shifted the balance within the church, with the majority of the cardinals he appointed coming from outside Europe. While 57 per cent of cardinals named by his predecessor Benedict XVI were European, that dropped to 40 per cent under Pope Francis, reflecting a broader reshaping of church leadership.