As we survey, in depth, in the current “Special Report,” the Church is in crisis. It’s in a tough spot predicted by seers of the Virgin Mary as well as folks such as Benedict XVI.

But fading to nothingness?

Hardly. Certainly not yet.

Consider that the current U.S. president is Catholic (at least in affiliation); one of those running for vice president is Catholic (ditto); six of the nine Supreme Court justices are Catholic; 148 congressmen and 27 senators are likewise;  a candidate for the presidency plays Ave Maria at appearances; and world leaders continue to pay homage to the Pope as the unequaled voice of reason, religion, and morality.

The power of Rome still attracts even those “movers-and-shakers” who have professed atheism (see: Elon Musk).

What other person has presidents and kings and queens and dictators travel to visit him?

And the statistics?

As we reported last week, the data up to December 31, 2022 (latest numbers available) show Catholics in the world numbered 1,389,573,000 people (that about 1.4 billion), with an overall increase of nearly fourteen million compared to the previous year.

That’s four times the population of the United States.

The increase was registered on four of the five continents.

Only in Europe is there a decrease in numbers (-474,000).

The greatest increases were registered in Africa (plus 7.2 million) and in America (5.9 million), followed by Asia (889,000) and Oceania (123,000).

As for Europe, a survey in England concluded that “as a result of child sexual abuse in the Church, a third of Catholics who previously attended Mass reduced their Mass attendance or stopped attending Mass altogether. This figure is echoed in a reduction in financial donations to parish or diocese giving by a third of Catholics who previously donated.”

Overall, one must also mention that actual Baptisms administered in the Church worldwide plunged from over sixteen million in 2016 to 13,327,037 in 2022—a decline of 17 percent over six years, according to the appendix to statistics published by the Fides news agency. Some of this was due to the pandemic.

The number of mainstream Protestants? About eight hundred million.

Add to that three hundred million Evangelicals.

There are about 1.9 billion Muslims—which makes Islam less than Christianity overall but more than Catholics alone.

Meanwhile, yes, vocations are on the decline (there are now 407,730 priests) and that’s cause for concern, seeing that increase in pew sitters.

But even then, the priesthood is just 142 less than the year before, and the number of permanent deacons increased by nearly a thousand.

Do you know how many churches there are?

Catch this figure: 221,000.

Now, it’s no match for the number of mosques (3.6 million), but mosques are often tiny and makeshift affairs.

So it’s no wonder that leaders pay attention to Rome. And while the percentage of practicing Catholics is surely too low and shrinking (Benedict predicted a much smaller actual Church, in the way of faithful practitioners), Catholicism is the Rock of Peter (the Vatican is literally built on his martyred ossified bones) and will endure the ages, no matter what the years or decades or ages bring.