Religious quotes and news – March 30, 2025

Witnesses of hope

Pope Francis, in his message for the 62nd World Day of Prayer for Vocations, wrote that “vocation is a precious gift that God sows in hearts, a call to step outside oneself to undertake a journey of love and service”.

“The Church is alive and fruitful when it generates new vocations. Our world looks, often unknowingly, for witnesses of hope who proclaim with their lives that following Christ is a source of true joy. Let us never tire, then, of asking the Lord for new labourers for his harvest, certain that with great love he continues to call them.”

Culture of death condemned

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, condemned the culture of death during mass for ambassadors to the Holy See.

“Our own times witness the threat of evil becoming increasingly significant, and darkness at times seems to prevail even over the light. We see it sadly in martyred Ukraine, in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in other places of conflict. There are unfortunately those who constantly feed a culture of death. There is an enormous difference between the one who brings life to others, reaching out a hand to save, and the one who instead brings death, depriving the other of the help necessary to survive.”

Catholic population rises, priests fall

According to official statistics, the number of Catholics increased from 1.39 billion in 2022 to 1.406 billion in 2023. This is proportionately a higher increase than that of the world population (0.9% in 2023, according to World Bank figures). There was a rapid increase in Africa, slower growth in the Americas and Asia, and almost no growth in Europe.

There were 406,996 Catholic priests in the world at the end of 2023: a 0.2% drop from the previous year, but the number of priests in Africa rose by 2.7%. The number of seminarians worldwide fell by 1.8%.

(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)