How many Roman Catholics are there in the world?
In a straightforward manner, There are about 1.2 billion Roman Catholics spread across the globe.
This data is according to the Vatican. About 40% of the global Catholic population are Latin Americans, it is the regions with the highest number or clusters of Catholic devotees in the world.
The number of Catholic concentrated in Latin America us estimated to be around 483 million Catholics with a country like Brazil leading the pack.
Brazil is reported to have the highest Catholic population in the world, estimated to be about 123 to 150 million (Brazilian census & World Christian Database’s 2010 figures.)
But Africa is recently taking the center stage too in the last few decades. The continent has continued to experience tremendous grown in Catholic Congregations.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has the highest Catholic population in in Africa reportedly having about 36 million Catholics.
In Europe, Italy is reported to have the large number of Catholic population with over 57 million catholic devotees in the country.
As far back as 1970, Catholicism has incessantly witnessed a global shift southward.
You can tell from the obvious decline of the Catholics in Europe, it seems the Roman Catholic movement has now come to Africa to stay and expand it’s horizon, statistics have it that Africa has added over 136 million Catholics in 2012 from the 46 million figure in 1970.
Asia is the next region that has experience a notable rise in Catholicism, an approximate of 137 million Catholics representing about 12% of the total global Catholic population.
About 17.7% of the world’s population is said to be practicing Catholicism as a religion.
More about Roman Catholic
Christianity is of several branches and folds and Catholicism is one of the most popular branches of Christianity.
It has it roots and believe set in the life of Jesus and his apostles.
Catholicism Today is the largest Christian denomination in the world with over a billion followers globally.
People who practice Catholicism are called Catholics, they follow biblical teachings of Jesus and also observe some traditions and interpretations of the Fathers and Magisterium (the educational institutions of the Catholic Church).
Faith in the Holy Trinity is key and Central to Catholics . They believe in God the father, Son and Holy spirit.
Catholics also have faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ, they also believed in His death and resurrection for the redemption of mankind back to the side of God. Then the sacraments, which is as the channels of divine grace.
The seven sacraments including Baptism, Eucharist and Confession, plays a key role in the Catholics believe system and worship life.
The Bishop of Rome (Romanus Pontifex) is the pope and he is the sovereign and spiritual leader of the Catholic Church worldwide. The current Pope is Francis who recently marked his 10 years anniversary as the head of the roman Catholic church.