Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Madrid (Agenzia Fides) - The situation of the Catholic Church in Spain seems positive, where over three quarters of the population, ie 76.4% of Spanish, declare themselves a Catholic, for a total of 35,924,068 people. There are 22,686 parishes across the country. This is what the Spanish Episcopal Conference declares. The ecclesiastical geography in Spain comprises 14 Ecclesiastical Provinces divided into 69 dioceses, as well as the castrensian Archbishop. There are currently 2 Cardinals, 14 Archbishops, 52 Bishops, 9 auxiliary Bishops. In addition, 5 Cardinals, 5 Archbishops, 25 Bishops and 3 auxiliary Bishops, all emeritus. Priests are 18,633, religious men 61,106 (49,640 religious women and 11,466 religious men). The male congregations are 104, female ones 303. During 2010/2011 there were 1,227 major seminarians and 1,292 minor seminarians.
The number of Spanish missionaries working in mission territories is always high: 107 Spanish Bishops are distributed in over 30 countries around the world. The missionaries are over 14 000, including about 3 000 religious priests, 7,500 religious women and more than 1,500 religious who are not priests. There are 900 diocesan priests, of whom 345 work in Latin America, and more than 1,100 lay missionaries who are in different places in the world. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 01/10/2011)
