(LifeSiteNews) — The number of Catholic priests and seminarians has recently declined worldwide, according to newly released statistics from 2023, as priestly societies devoted to offering the traditional Latin Mass continue to grow.
The total number of priests worldwide dropped by 734 from 2022 to 2023 despite a 16 million increase in the number of Catholics, according to the most recently available data, published by the Vatican agency Fides. The number of seminarians during that period also declined proportionately by 1,986, affirming that the longstanding Church crisis has been continuing at least until recently.
The year 2023 saw a total of 406,996 Catholic priests, according to Fides, a count that presumably does not include priests of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), which numbered 733 as of November 1, 2025, not including its bishops.
The SSPX, by contrast, the largest society of traditional priests, has seen a steady growth in its number of priests since its founding in 1970. The number of priests of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FFSP) has also grown at a mostly steady pace since it began as a break-off from the SSPX in 1988, albeit to a lesser degree.
The worldwide decline in Catholic clergy is driven by every continent except Africa and Asia, the only areas to record increases in the number of priests: 1,451 and 1,145, respectively.
However, even in Asia, the number of seminarians declined in 2023 by 1,331. The previous year, the number of seminarians had decreased by only 375.
In Africa, the number of seminarians increased by 383 in 2023, a significantly smaller increase than the previous year (726). As of 2023, Africans make up almost one in three seminarians worldwide.
It is notable that the number of religious sisters worldwide also continues to decline substantially despite the increase in the number of Catholics, with a decline in 9,805 sisters in 2023, for a total of 589,423 sisters that year. Africa and Asia are again the exception, with only a marginal increase in Asia (+46 sisters) and a more substantial one in Africa (+1,804).
Meanwhile, the number of permanent deacons, who may marry, continues to rise worldwide, with an increase of 1,234 permanent deacons in 2023. According to Fides, such deacons are remaining stable in Europe as they increase in the Americas.
In the U.S. in particular, the number of priests flatlined in 1965, after the Second Vatican Council, and then began to plummet around 1985 as the Catholic population continued to explode. This suggests significant harm to vocations was inflicted by the changes to the liturgy and teaching of the faith initiated by the Council.
In support of this association, a secular study published in 2025 found that Vatican II “triggered a decline” in worldwide Catholic Mass attendance relative to religious service attendance of other religions, including Protestant Christianity.
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) found that “compared to other countries, Catholic countries experienced a steady decline in the monthly adult religious service attendance rate starting immediately after Vatican II” in 1965, the final year of the council.
The vocational crisis seems to have significantly worsened during the pontificate of Francis. According to Catholic World News, after 1978, the number of seminarians peaked at 120,616 in 2011, and slightly declined to 120,051 in 2012. By the end of 2013, after Francis took office, they numbered 118,251 – dropping 1,800 in one year.
By 2023, data showed an “uninterrupted” decline in the number of seminarians starting in 2013.
