The Roman Catholic Church in Austria recorded a record number of dismissals last year. A total of 90,975 people turned away from it in 2022, according to official church statistics published on Wednesday, which confirm the provisional figures from January. At the end of 2022, there were 4,733,085 Catholics in the country, a decrease of 1.96 percent. Income from church contributions stagnated at just under 500 million euros.
As “Kathpress” reported, there was a slight increase in the number of baptisms (45,706) and weddings (9,503). 4,771 people were readmitted or readmitted to the Roman Catholic Church. The majority of the dioceses’ income comes from church contributions. In 2022 this was 499.98 million euros (75 percent of the total income), in 2021 the church contributions amounted to 498.84 million euros.
The reasons are probably also financial
The number of people leaving the church has increased significantly in 2022 compared to previous years. In 2021, 72,222 people left the Catholic Church, compared to 58,727 in 2020. The reason is believed to be the distance from the church, which has increased in recent years due to the pandemic. According to information from the dioceses, this trend has been exacerbated in the past year by the tense general economic situation – that is, for many people the church contribution is simply too expensive given the rising cost of living.
The number of baptisms in 2022 was 45,706, a slight increase compared to 2021 (45,541). In 2020, there were only 32,521 due to corona. Last year there were 9,503 weddings. In 2021 there were 6,674, in 2020 only 3,595. According to official church statistics, the number of priests working in Austria in 2022 was 3,403. This means that the number has decreased slightly compared to 2021 (3,425).
The church services were better attended again
The number of church services increased in 2022: on the two ‘counting Sundays’, 309,000 and 366,000 churchgoers were counted respectively. That is considerably more than 2021 and 2020. However, due to the corona, the two years are considered exceptional years (2021: 52,000 and 281,000 trade fair visitors, in 2020 only the first counting Sunday of February was recorded with approximately 395,000 trade fair visitors). The pre-Corona figures: In 2019, between 497,000 and 533,000 trade fair visitors were counted, in 2018 there were between 502,000 and 554,000. By comparison, the figures for 2022 are considerably lower.
The Catholic Church in Austria publishes the numbers of Catholics, church statistics and the financial figures of the dioceses once a year. The date for publishing the figures was changed by the Bishops’ Conference and now always falls around the start of school, as their media officer, Paul Wuthe, explained to “Kathpress”. In concrete terms, this means: While the provisional Catholic figures for 2022, as well as the detailed church statistics for 2021 and the financial figures for 2021, were published in January this year, the official church statistics – i.e. the numbers of Catholics and the information on church life and pastoral care – as well as the financial figures presented for 2022. The publication of provisional Catholic figures in January 2024 is therefore no longer necessary; the church statistics and financial figures for 2023 will be published in September 2024
Source: Krone
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