A century of Church growth: From 10 million to 347 million in the mission territories

A century after Pope Pius XI established World Mission Sunday, the Catholic Church has grown dramatically in the mission territories, from fewer than 10 million Catholics to nearly 347 million.

According to data from the website Domund100.es , produced by the Pontifical Mission Society of Spain, in 1925 the Church had 297 missionary dioceses, some of which encompassed entire countries.

There were 9,645,173 Catholics in these mission lands, representing 1.68% of the population. A century later, the number of Catholics in mission territories stands at 346,644,968, representing 8.6%.

This spread of the Gospel would not have been possible without the dedication of thousands of diocesan priests and men and women religious who answered the call to “go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to all creation.”

A hundred years ago, missionaries numbered fewer than 10,000 priests, just over 2,300 male religious, and more than 20,000 female religious. Today, there are more than 100,000 priests, over 76,000 male religious, and more than 200,000 female religious in mission lands.

The Church’s evangelizing work has translated into concrete achievements. For instance, the number…