Vatican Releases Census Figures for US, Cuba

In view of the Pope's upcoming apostolic trip to Cuba and the United States of America, the Central Church Statistics Office has published the statistics relating to the Catholic Church in the two countries, current as of 31 December 2013. Cuba has a surface area of 110,861 km2 and a population of 11,192,000 inhabitants, of whom 6,775,000 are Catholics, equivalent to 60.5 per cent of the population. There are 11 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 283 parishes and 2,094 pastoral centres. There are currently 17 bishops, 365 priests, 659 men and women religious, and 4,395 catechists. There are 85 seminarians. The Church has six centres for Catholic education, from pre-school to university level. With regard to charitable and social centres belonging to the Church or directed by ecclesiastics or religious, in Cuba there are 173 hospitals and clinics, one home for the elderly or disabled, two orphanages and nurseries, and three special centres for social education or re-education and institutions of other types. The United States have a surface area of 9,372,616 km2 and a population of 316,253,000 inhabitants, of whom 71,796,000 are Catholics, representing 22.7 per cent of the population. There are 196 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 18,256 parishes and 2,183 pastoral centres. There are currently 457 bishops, 40,967 priests, 55,390 men and women religious, 381,892 catechists and 5,829 seminarians. The Church has 11,265 centres for Catholic education, from pre-school to university level. With regard to charitable and social centres belonging to the Church or directed by ecclesiastics or religious, in the United States there are 888 hospitals and clinics, two leper colonies, 1,152 homes for the elderly or disabled, 1,090 orphanages and nurseries, 981 family advisory centres and other centres for the protection of life, and 4,295 special centres for social education or re-education and institutions of other types.