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Islam overtakes Catholicism as world's
Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism to become the world's largest single religious denomination, according to L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.
In an interview with the paper Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, compilier of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican yearbook, said "For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us." He said that figures for 2006 showed that Catholics accounted for 17.4 per cent of the world population while Muslims accounted for 19.2 per cent.
Asked for an explanation Monsignor Formenti observed that "While Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer". He said the figure for the Muslim global population was derived from data submitted to the United Nations by Muslim countries.
However Christians as a whole, including Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and Anglicans make up 33 per cent of the world population. Mosnignor Formenti said Latin America remained "the stronghold" of Catholicism, and the American continent as a whole had nearly half the world's total. He noted the decline in numbers of Catholic priests, and said the number of nuns was also suffering a "drastic reduction".
The figures were released as both the Vatican and Muslim leaders sought to pursue a recently initiated Muslim-Catholic dialogue despite tensions over Pope Benedict XVI's high profile baptism at Easter of Magdi Allam, a converted Italian Muslim journalist of Egyptian origin. Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the opinions of Mr Allam, an outspoken critic of Islam as inherently violent and repressive, were not in any way "the official expression of the positions of the Pope or the Holy See".
The Vatican puts the number of Catholics in the world at 1.13 billion people, while the figure for Muslims is estimated at around 1.3 billion.
Rome has Europe's largest mosque, opened in 1995 and paid for by Muslim countries, mainly by Saudi Arabia, which at present bans Christian worship but is reported to be considering allowing the construction of a church on Saudi soil as part of negotiations for the establishment of diplomatic relations.
In a provocative short story entitled "The Last Christmas" (L'Ultimo Natale) the popular Italian writer Valerio Massimo Manfredi imagines a future in which Islam has become the dominant religion in Italy, with the Pope obliged to leave St Peter's and make way for an Imam.
The number of Muslims has overtaken that of Roman Catholics for the first time, the Vatican said yesterday.
Muslims account for 19.2% of the world's population, while Catholics make up 17.4%, according to the Vatican's new statistics yearbook, which is based on figures for 2006.
"For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us," said Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who edited the yearbook.
"While it is known that Muslim families continue to have many children, Christian families are having fewer," he said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
The Vatican data showed that Christians as a whole, including Orthodox and Protestant groups as well as Catholics, made up 33% of the world's population.
Applying the percentages to the 2006 world population of about 6.5 billion, Muslims would have made up 1.25 billion of the total, Catholics 1.13 billion and all Christians 2.15 billion.
The numbers were published as a dialogue begins between Muslims and the Vatican to try to patch up a series of differences, starting in 2006 when Pope Benedict gave a speech in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor claiming that Islam was inherently violent.
The Pope again ruffled feathers at Easter by publicly baptising into the Catholic church a formerly Muslim journalist who had described Islam as characterised by intolerance.
The Vatican later distanced itself from the journalist's views.
Formenti said the information on Muslim numbers had been released by the United Nations, while the Vatican's data on Catholics was based on questionnaires sent out to dioceses worldwide.
"Latin America remains the stronghold for Catholicism, while the American continent as a whole has 49.8% of the world's total," he said.
Formenti said that the number of Catholic priests was on the rebound, particularly in Asia, "where there are few Catholics, but they are driven by great spirit". He described Africa as a "grand resource" for the church, while Europe and North America were struggling. The number of nuns was undergoing a "drastic reduction".
As for the enrolment of seminarians, Guadalajara in Mexico had the largest number, with two seminaries "packed full".
France, the Netherlands and Belgium were bottom of the league, while Italy was seeing a "small, very small reprise".
In an interview with the paper Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, compilier of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican yearbook, said "For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us." He said that figures for 2006 showed that Catholics accounted for 17.4 per cent of the world population while Muslims accounted for 19.2 per cent.
Asked for an explanation Monsignor Formenti observed that "While Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer". He said the figure for the Muslim global population was derived from data submitted to the United Nations by Muslim countries.
However Christians as a whole, including Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants and Anglicans make up 33 per cent of the world population. Mosnignor Formenti said Latin America remained "the stronghold" of Catholicism, and the American continent as a whole had nearly half the world's total. He noted the decline in numbers of Catholic priests, and said the number of nuns was also suffering a "drastic reduction".
The figures were released as both the Vatican and Muslim leaders sought to pursue a recently initiated Muslim-Catholic dialogue despite tensions over Pope Benedict XVI's high profile baptism at Easter of Magdi Allam, a converted Italian Muslim journalist of Egyptian origin. Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the opinions of Mr Allam, an outspoken critic of Islam as inherently violent and repressive, were not in any way "the official expression of the positions of the Pope or the Holy See".
The Vatican puts the number of Catholics in the world at 1.13 billion people, while the figure for Muslims is estimated at around 1.3 billion.
Rome has Europe's largest mosque, opened in 1995 and paid for by Muslim countries, mainly by Saudi Arabia, which at present bans Christian worship but is reported to be considering allowing the construction of a church on Saudi soil as part of negotiations for the establishment of diplomatic relations.
In a provocative short story entitled "The Last Christmas" (L'Ultimo Natale) the popular Italian writer Valerio Massimo Manfredi imagines a future in which Islam has become the dominant religion in Italy, with the Pope obliged to leave St Peter's and make way for an Imam.
The number of Muslims has overtaken that of Roman Catholics for the first time, the Vatican said yesterday.
Muslims account for 19.2% of the world's population, while Catholics make up 17.4%, according to the Vatican's new statistics yearbook, which is based on figures for 2006.
"For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us," said Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who edited the yearbook.
"While it is known that Muslim families continue to have many children, Christian families are having fewer," he said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano.
The Vatican data showed that Christians as a whole, including Orthodox and Protestant groups as well as Catholics, made up 33% of the world's population.
Applying the percentages to the 2006 world population of about 6.5 billion, Muslims would have made up 1.25 billion of the total, Catholics 1.13 billion and all Christians 2.15 billion.
The numbers were published as a dialogue begins between Muslims and the Vatican to try to patch up a series of differences, starting in 2006 when Pope Benedict gave a speech in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor claiming that Islam was inherently violent.
The Pope again ruffled feathers at Easter by publicly baptising into the Catholic church a formerly Muslim journalist who had described Islam as characterised by intolerance.
The Vatican later distanced itself from the journalist's views.
Formenti said the information on Muslim numbers had been released by the United Nations, while the Vatican's data on Catholics was based on questionnaires sent out to dioceses worldwide.
"Latin America remains the stronghold for Catholicism, while the American continent as a whole has 49.8% of the world's total," he said.
Formenti said that the number of Catholic priests was on the rebound, particularly in Asia, "where there are few Catholics, but they are driven by great spirit". He described Africa as a "grand resource" for the church, while Europe and North America were struggling. The number of nuns was undergoing a "drastic reduction".
As for the enrolment of seminarians, Guadalajara in Mexico had the largest number, with two seminaries "packed full".
France, the Netherlands and Belgium were bottom of the league, while Italy was seeing a "small, very small reprise".