Week of February 2, 2005

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As Pope John Paul II took a rare sick day, he was given a thick tome to thumb through: the first copy of the 2005 “Annuario Pontificio,” the Vatican yearbook.
The book was delivered to the pope Jan. 31, a day the pope suspended his appointments because of the flu, said Joaquin Navarro-Valls, the Vatican spokesman.
Initial figures from the book compiled by the Vatican’s statistics office contained some good news:
— The world’s Catholic population grew from 1.07 billion in 2002 to 1.08 billion in 2003, the last year for which complete figures are available.
— The number of Catholics in Africa grew by 4.5 percent; in Asia by 2.2 percent; in Oceania by 1.3 percent; in North and South America by 1.2 percent. Europe reported “a situation of practical stability.”
— 49.8 percent of the world’s Catholics live in North and South America.
— An increase in the number of diocesan priests led to an increase in the overall number of priests in the world, despite the fact that religious orders of men reported fewer ordained members.
— The total number of priests grew from 405,058 in 2002 to 405,450 in 2003. There were 707 more diocesan priests, while there were 315 fewer religious order priests.
— The pope named 171 bishops in 2004. He established 10 new dioceses and one new apostolic vicariate. Six dioceses became archdioceses.
The Vatican yearbook generally goes on sale in late February. The complete data included in the book’s listing for each diocese in the world usually are released months later in the Vatican’s Statistical Yearbook.