Annuario Pontificio

Annuario Pontificio

Annuario Pontificio

Author	Holy See
Language	Italian
Subject	Directory of the Catholic Church
Publisher	Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Publication date	Annually since 1912
Publication place	Vatican City
Pages	Over 2,400 (2025 edition)

The Annuario Pontificio is the annual directory published by the Holy See of the Catholic Church. It provides comprehensive information on the Church's hierarchy, institutions, and statistics, serving as an essential reference for ecclesiastical matters. The yearbook lists all popes, cardinals, bishops, dioceses, departments of the Roman Curia, diplomatic missions of the Holy See, religious institutes, and other relevant data. As of 2025, it is available in digital format online, in addition to its traditional print edition.

History

The origins of the Annuario Pontificio trace back to precursors published in the 18th and 19th centuries. From 1716 to 1859, the Cracas printing firm in Rome issued a yearbook titled Notizie per l'Anno ... (Information for the Year ...), which served as an early directory of Church officials. In 1851, a department of the Holy See began producing the Gerarchia della Santa Chiesa Cattolica Apostolica Romana in Tutto L'Orbe (Hierarchy of the Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic Church Worldwide), which adopted the title Annuario Pontificio in 1860 but ceased publication in 1870. During this period, compilation was managed by the newspaper Giornale di Roma.

In 1872, the Monaldi Brothers (Fratelli Monaldi) launched their own yearbook, La Gerarchia Cattolica e la Famiglia Pontificia per l'Anno ... (The Catholic Hierarchy and the Papal Household for the Year ...). The Vatican Press assumed responsibility for the Gerarchia Cattolica in 1885, granting it semi-official status from 1899 to 1904 under Pope Leo XIII. However, its "official" designation lapsed with the primacy of the Acta Sanctae Sedis. The publication resumed the Annuario Pontificio title in 1912 and has been issued annually since then by the Holy See.

Between 1912 and 1924, the yearbook included brief historical notes on departments of the Roman Curia and positions at the papal court, a feature revived in 1940. From 1898, a French equivalent, Annuaire Pontifical Catholique, was published by the Maison de la Bonne Presse in Paris, offering additional historical articles, but it was eventually superseded by the Annuario Pontificio for global statistics. The list of popes has undergone revisions, such as recognizing the Council of Pisa's decisions in 1942 or reclassifying certain figures as antipopes in 1963 following Pope John XXIII's election.

In recent developments, the 2025 edition marks a shift to digital accessibility, with the yearbook now available online and updated regularly via an app. This enhances its utility as a dynamic resource for Church information.

Content

The Annuario Pontificio is structured to provide detailed listings and data on the Catholic Church's organization. It includes:

• A chronological list of all popes.
• Officials of the Holy See's various departments (dicasteries).
• All cardinals, bishops, and prelates.
• Information on dioceses, including statistical data furnished by diocesan curias.
• Departments of the Roman Curia.
• Diplomatic missions of the Holy See and embassies accredited to it.
• Religious institutes, with membership statistics.
• Pontifical academic institutions.
• An index of all listed names, including priests with the title "Monsignor."

The 2025 edition spans over 2,400 pages and is published in Italian. Statistical data for dioceses reflect the situation as of December 31 of the previous year and include metrics such as area, population, number of Catholics, parishes, priests, deacons, seminarians, religious members, educational and charitable institutes, and baptisms.

List of popes

Main article: List of popes

The Annuario Pontificio provides the Catholic Church's list of popes. As historical questions are reinterpreted by each successive pope, they are recognized in the Annuario Pontificio. For example, the 1942 Annuario Pontificio recognized the decisions of the Council of Pisa (1409), listing three popes for the period: Gregory XII (1406–1409), Alexander V (1409–1410), and John XXIII (1410–1415). The Western Schism was reinterpreted when Pope John XXIII (1958–1963) chose to reuse the ordinal XXIII, citing "twenty-two Johns of indisputable legitimacy." This was reflected in the 1963 Annuario Pontificio, which treated Alexander V and the first John XXIII as antipopes.

Statistical data

The Annuario Pontificio incorporates detailed statistical summaries from the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae (Statistical Yearbook of the Church), compiled annually by the Central Office of Church Statistics within the Secretariat of State. These summaries offer insights into global trends in the Catholic population, clergy, religious life, and pastoral structures. While the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae organizes data primarily by country and continent, the Annuario Pontificio presents much of the same information organized by individual diocese (with diocesan-level figures provided by local curias), making it a key reference for hierarchical and territorial analysis.

Recent editions highlight consistent growth in the global Catholic population—driven especially by Africa and Asia—while showing declines or stagnation in numbers of priests, religious sisters, and seminarians in many regions, particularly Europe and parts of the Americas. Below are key statistics from the three most recent editions.

2025 edition (reflecting data as of December 31, 2023)

Published in March 2025 alongside the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2023, this edition reports a global Catholic population of 1.406 billion, reflecting a 1.15% increase from approximately 1.39 billion in 2022.

Catholic population

• Global: 1.406 billion (+1.15%).
• By continent:
  • Africa: 281 million (20% of global; +3.31%).
  • Americas: 47.8% of global (+0.9%).
  • Asia: 11% of global (+0.6%).
  • Europe: 20.4% of global (+0.2%).
  • Oceania: Over 11 million (+1.9%).
• Notable countries: Brazil (182 million), Philippines (93 million), Democratic Republic of Congo (55 million).

Bishops and clergy

• Bishops: 5,430 (+1.4% from 5,353 in 2022); average of 259,000 Catholics per bishop globally.
• Priests: 406,996 (−0.2% overall or −734 from prior year); growth in Africa (+2.7%) and Asia (+1.6%), declines in other continents.
• Permanent deacons: 51,433 (+2.6%); highest concentrations in the Americas and Europe.

Religious and seminarians

• Religious brothers (non-priests): Declines in most continents except Africa.
• Religious sisters: 589,423 (−1.6%); growth only in Africa (+2.2%), declines in Europe and the Americas.
• Major seminarians: 106,495 (−1.8%); Africa and Asia together account for 61.4%.

These patterns underscore robust demographic and vocational growth in the Global South contrasted with challenges in pastoral staffing in traditional regions.

2024 edition (reflecting data as of December 31, 2022)

Published in 2024 with the corresponding Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae, this edition showed continued population growth offset by slight declines in clergy numbers and ongoing shifts toward the Global South.

• Catholic population: Approximately 1.390 billion (up about 1.0% from 1.376–1.378 billion in 2021).
• Bishops: 5,353 (slight increase of around +10 from the previous year).
• Priests: 407,730 (small overall decline of several hundred; increases in Africa and Asia partially offset losses elsewhere).
• Permanent deacons: Continued growth and concentration in the Americas and Europe (exact figure not always highlighted in summaries).
• Religious sisters: Ongoing declines in most continents except Africa.
• Major seminarians: Persistent downward global trend since the early 2010s, with increases limited to Africa and Asia.

The edition reinforced emerging regional dynamics, with growth in developing continents balancing declines in Europe and North America.

2023 edition (reflecting data as of December 31, 2021)

Released in 2023, this edition captured early post-pandemic trends, including population recovery and persistent vocation challenges.

• Catholic population: Approximately 1.376–1.378 billion (modest global increase from prior years).
• Bishops: Slight overall increase.
• Priests: Stabilization or modest decline, with regional growth in Africa and Asia.
• Permanent deacons: Continued growth, especially in the Americas.
• Religious sisters: Ongoing declines in Europe and North America.
• Major seminarians: Downward trend continuing, setting the stage for later accelerations in Africa/Asia representation.

The data began to clearly illustrate the accelerating shift of Catholicism's center of gravity toward the Global South.

Statistical data abbreviations

• Su – Area in square kilometers of the diocesan territory  
• pp – Total population of the diocese  
• ct – Number of Catholics  
• pr – Number of parishes and quasi-parishes  
• ch – Number of churches or mission stations  
• sd – Secular priests resident in the diocese  
• dn – Diocesan priests ordained during the year  
• sr – Religious priests resident in the diocese  
• rn – Religious priests ordained during the year  
• dp – Permanent deacons  
• sm – Seminarians taking courses of philosophy and theology  
• rm – Members of men's religious institutes  
• rf – Members of women's religious institutes  
• ie – Educational institutes  
• ib – Charitable institutes  
• ba – Baptisms  

Related

• Roman Curia
• Catholic Church by country
• List of popes