Joachin Meisner Hertz
(ZENIT News / Berlin, 06.02.2023).- The Catholic Church in Germany began the year 2023 with disconcerting figures. The country’s Episcopal Conference published the fact that in 2022 only 48 men entered one of the Seminaries of the 27 German dioceses. Fewer than 1.5 per diocese. In 2020 the figure had already declined to 54, only to go up a year later to 56. These are the lowest admissions in the country’s history. In 2007 alone, some 200 seminarians entered one of the country’s Seminaries. In 1985, the total that entered was 628.
According to data for 2021, there are 21,6 million Catholics in Germany. Of these, only 4% go to Mass on Sundays (some 923,000). Moreover, the number of ordained priests has also declined: up to January 25, 2023, a total of 33 new priests were ordained in the whole country.
The statistics of ordinations can be consulted at this link.
