Africa passes Europe in number of Catholics for the first time, Church statistics show

Africa was the only continent in the world to register growth in the number of seminarians over the past year, adding 786 new candidates for the priesthood. Worldwide, the total fell by 2,891. The figures come from Fides, the news agency of the Vatican's missionary office, which has published data through December 31, 2024, drawn from the Church's Statistical Yearbook, updated each year.

The growth goes well beyond vocations. Africa's Catholic population has passed Europe's, with 288.3 million faithful against 287.2 million in Europe. Africa is now the second region in the world by number of Catholics, behind the Americas. The worldwide total stands at 1.4 billion, an increase of 15.8 million over the previous year.

As in previous years, the largest increases came in Africa and the Americas, followed by Asia, Europe and Oceania. Africa led on several measures at once. It recorded the largest absolute increase in Catholics, with 7.58 million new faithful, ahead of the 6.99 million added in the Americas. It also gained 1,676 priests, the highest continental increase, at a time when the net worldwide increase in priests was 425.

An opportunity for the universal Church

Catholic leaders on the continent have described the growth as a chance to share their faith, their vocations and their missionary experience with the universal Church. Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala of the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio in South Sudan said the figures are a reason for gratitude and for renewed missionary responsibility. Hiiboro, who has led the diocese since 2008 and chairs the Commission for Integral Human Development of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops' Conference, said the growth of the faith should not be seen as a competition between continents.

"Africa is not competing with any continent in the growth of the faith. We are part of a universal Church, united in Christ and enriched by the gifts of different peoples and cultures," Hiiboro said. He said the continent is now able to share the faith it received: "Having received the gift of faith through the missionary witness of others, we are now blessed to share that gift with the universal Church."

Father Vincent Simba, rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary in Nairobi, Kenya, said the increase in Catholics and priests offers hope for Africa and for the universal Church. He said he hopes the continent will be able to send missionaries to the very places from which it once received the Christian faith.

Bishop Joseph Kacou Aka of the Diocese of Yamoussoukro in Ivory Coast read the figures as an invitation to deepen communion among local Churches. "Africa is called to share its gifts: its vocations, its community experience, its theological reflection and its witness of faith," he said. "But mission remains a fraternal exchange in which each Church gives and receives." Aka, who was consecrated a bishop in 2023, said his diocese's pastoral work follows the motto "Autonomous and Missionary Church, Communion of Communities."

Family, pastoral work and demographics

The Church leaders interviewed pointed to several overlapping causes. Hiiboro cited family ties, community life and openness to God, along with the work of missionaries, catechists, priests, religious and lay people. In Nigeria, Bishop Gerald Mamman Musa of the Diocese of Katsina pointed to the youth of the continent's population, family life, liturgical celebrations and the work of Catholic institutions. Musa also chairs the Communications Commission of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria.

"In Nigeria, parish communities, Catholic schools, hospitals and lay movements help pass on the faith from generation to generation," Musa said. He gave one figure from his own diocese: the number of seminarians rose from about 21 in 2023 to more than 40 in 2026. Still, he warned that "population growth alone does not explain conversion."

Father George Omondi, a Kenyan priest of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, known as the Spiritans, emphasized access to pastoral services. Omondi previously served as vice provincial superior and formation counselor in the Spiritan province of Kenya and South Sudan. He said he had seen the number of parishes grow in Kenya's Catholic dioceses, bringing religious services closer to the faithful. During his parish ministry he also saw adult baptisms and the reception into the Catholic Church of converts from other denominations.

Multiple causes

Aka cautioned against attributing the growth to any single cause. The statistics, he said, "describe a development without in themselves establishing its causes," and do not show the relative weight of transmission within families, adult baptisms and demographic factors.