Catholic Youth Portal

Vatican Presents Instrumentum Laboris for Synod on Young People The Vatican has presented the Instrumentum Laboris for the upcoming Synod on Young People. The working instrument of the October 3-28, 2018 XVth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, on the theme “Young people, faith and vocational discernment,” was published on, June 19, 2018, in Italian. However, various translated versions have been made available since then.  The “synodal path” started immediately for the writing of the “preparatory document,” published on January 13, 2017, together with Pope Francis’ “Letter to the young people.” This document contained a “Questionnaire” intended mainly for episcopal conferences, synods of Eastern Catholic Churches, and other organizations of the Church: 15 questions addressed to all, three specific questions for each continent, and a call to share experienced “good practices.” There were also initiatives to “involve young people,” beginning with a...

CATHOLIC POPULATION STATISTICS Pic of religious from Latin America Happy Mission Sunday to all Catholics in the World! World Mission day is an annual celebration to appreciate all the workers in Christ’s vineyard. This year it fell on Sunday, October 21.  Here are some interesting Church statistics and comparisons by continent as given by the Fides News Service. The numbers are taken from the Church’s Book of Statistics, (updated to the end of 2016). For those who like to consider the numbers, these statistics show interesting data such as: The world population at the end of 2016 was 7,352,289,000 while Catholics in the world numbered 1,299,059,000 , showing an increase of 14,249,000 and thus 17.67 percent of the world’s population. Whilst Europe showed a decrease in the number of Catholics, Africa had an increase of more than 6 million! The average number of Catholics per priest is 3,130, as the number of priests in the world decreased this year to 414...