The one chart that shows the Catholic church’s looming identity crisis
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I thank (again) George Bouchey for this link. George spots some very interesting information online [FJD].
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The one chart that shows the Catholic church’s looming identity crisis
Posted by Max Fisher on February 13, 2013 at 2:43 pm
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Source: Pew Forum report on religion.
For centuries, the Catholic church has been a European institution. The vast majority of its followers were in Europe, its enormous power was rooted in European politics and, reflecting this, its popes were European. Even as European missionaries and colonists spread the faith abroad, the church’s center of gravity remained squarely in Europe.
As recently as one century ago, two out of three Catholics were European, according todata from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. As of 2010, Europeans have shrunk to just 24 percent of global Catholic population. And yet 53 percent of the church’s Cardinal electors still come from Europe.
The last hundred years have seen the global distribution of Catholicism change rapidly and dramatically. The largest population of Catholics is now in Latin America. Meanwhile, the Catholic population in Europe is shrinking, while the religion’s following in sub-Saharan Africa – already substantial – is growing. According to the New Republic, there will be more African Catholics than European by 2033.
The question, then, is whether – and how – the Catholic church may attempt to transition from its traditional European focus to a more global identity. It will face that dilemma most immediately in selecting a new pope – observers have wondered about possible candidates from Ghana, Brazil and the Philippines – but that decision will be just one part of the larger identity crisis, something that may unfold over generations.
4 Responses to “The one chart that shows the Catholic church’s looming identity crisis”
February 15, 2013 at 12:54 pm
The Brazilian candidate is too liberal. The Ghanaian and Philippine candidates will fit the right-wing/Opus Dei agenda (Turkson supports kill-the-gays laws in Uganda and both are rabidly anti-birth control/anti-condom). Maradiaga of the Honduras favors concealing clerical sex abuse (has said so publicly and wrote a letter praising a French bishop who did go to jail for protecting a pedopriest) and is rabidly anti-semitic and afaik anti-gay. All will be noxious and toxic popes, which will kill RCC Inc, as Africans and Latin Americans are no longer kept in ignorance and will become more knowledgeable as they gain even more access to contrary info via electronic media technology.
White male patriarchal clerical power and privilege will slowly wane, but will it be replaced by males-of-color patriarchal clerical power and privilege? One Billion Rising says maybe not!
BTW, all of these figures are inflated, as the vatican reports figures based on all people baptized, not all people who are active and practicing. At least 30% of North American catholics are actually ex-catholics (the third largest denomination in the U.S. after catholics and baptists). As usual, the vatican *LIES*.
February 15, 2013 at 8:23 pm
Hopefully, the world will mau mau Turkson…if I pray to la virgen (tee hee), maybe she will send down a ball of fire to consume him…tee hee…
February 15, 2013 at 8:28 pm
Cardinal Peter Turkson supports KILL GAYS LEGISLATION:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/peter-turkson-cardinal-pope-successor-kill-the-gays-bill_n_2677261.html
February 16, 2013 at 12:27 am
Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/pope-struggled-to-lift-sacred-secrecy-of-vatican-finances/2013/02/15/a1620d06-7760-11e2-b102-948929030e64_story_1.html