Catholic News

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Canada — If someone is raised Catholic in the United States, there is a 75% chance that as an adult that person is no longer Catholic — or he or she is still a Catholic but hardly ever attends Mass.

Ryan Burge, an American political scientist who specializes in research about religion in American life, published these findings and others on his website titled Graphs About Religion.

Using information from the U.S. General Social Survey and the Pew Religious Landscape Survey, Burge found that in 2024 nearly three-quarters of Americans raised Catholic were either no longer Catholic, or they identified as Catholic but never or seldom attended Mass.

How does that compare with Canada?

Catholics in Canada retain more of their identity than Americans, but how they practice their faith is similar to what is happening in the U.S., said Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, who teaches sociology and studies religion in Canada at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

"Catholic identity is important and is retained by many in Canada, but the practice for many started disappearing in the 1990s," she said. "This is definitely true in Quebec, but also, to a lesser extent, in the rest of Canada."

Wilkins-Laflamme said her research shows retention rates for Catholics are higher in Canada, but mostly as a cultural expression.

These are people who "value the identity of being Catholic, they see that as strongly tied to their family heritage, maybe their regional and national identity, like in Quebec," she said.

"But for the most part, they have no practical ties with the Church. They don't like the Church that much. And they don't really agree with any of its policies."

These Catholics might go to church services on special occasions or holidays, like Christmas or Easter. For the most part they are "very detached from the institution, but even that is now disappearing," she said.

Only 10% of Catholics in Quebec say they practice their religion "with any regularity, let alone weekly," Wilkins-Laflamme added, noting that in the rest of Canada "it's not much more than that."

Overall, Canadian Catholics have a good retention of their Catholic identity, but not of practice, she stated.

"It's kind of, yes, there's some religion, maybe like some vague beliefs in God. But it's essentially a cultural identity, a tie to your family heritage. And even that is going down in Canada, although not by the same numbers as in the U.S.," she said.

One source of the decline, Wilkins-Laflamme said, is that Catholic parents are not raising their children in the faith.

"Parents might say they're Catholic, but if they don't bother raising their kids Catholic, the children will remember their childhood as nonreligious," she said. "They'll just look like cradle nonreligious, raised nonreligious."

Where the Catholic Church might have gained from immigration in the past, the federal government now is limiting the number of newcomers, she observed. "So they might not be getting as much from that source in the future, and their birth rates are quite low. They're aging," she said.

Joel Thiessen studies religion as a sociologist at Ambrose University in Calgary, Alberta, and is director of the Flourishing Congregations Institute. He agreed with Wilkins-Laflamme.

"I think Catholic parents in Canada are not terribly Catholic themselves," he said. "So that's part of the reason for the challenges of retention."

Catholic schools and parishes could play a role in helping with religious transmission, but "there isn't a lot of integration happening between those different institutional spaces, despite their best attempts," he said. "And I think that weakens things."

One of the challenges is a lack of youth workers in parishes, compared with Protestant churches, where many churches hire youth pastors to work with teens, which aids with higher retention among some Protestant churches.

"I think that in part helps to account for why Catholics are hemorrhaging more than Protestants," Thiessen said.

Since personal ties to someone like a youth worker make a big difference for retention, that is a crucial piece, Thiessen said. "The current infrastructure doesn't support it," he said.

This story was first published by Canadian Catholic News and has been reprinted here, with adaptations, with permission.

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Jordan's State Security Court sentenced three men to death for carrying out an armed attack last month on mourners at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in the town of Hammoud, in southern Jordan's Karak Governorate.

The attack took place Oct. 23 and left nine people dead and dozens injured. According to the court's Nov. 15 ruling, the three men were convicted of carrying out terrorist acts, using weapons and ammunition, conspiring to carry out armed acts, and promoting the ideas of a terrorist group. One of them was also accused of providing money to fund those activities.

The death sentences are subject to review by Jordan's Court of Cassation, the nation's highest court, and are not yet final.

As for the fourth and fifth defendants, attorney Amer al-Halsa, who represents the victims' families, said the court sentenced each of them to six years in prison. The court reclassified one of the charges against them as illegal possession of a firearm.

Christmas services will take place but celebrations canceled

In a related development, the Council of Church Leaders in Jordan announced that all celebrations marking Christmas this year would be canceled in solidarity with the families of the 10 people identified in the statement as martyrs. They include the nine people killed in the church attack and a security officer killed in a separate stabbing outside the Sri Lankan Embassy in Amman on Nov. 5.

The council said regular prayers, religious services, and pastoral duties would continue, however. It called on churches to observe the holiday simply and solemnly, giving priority to prayer, works of mercy, and social solidarity.

"We call upon the members of our churches and institutions to ensure that the pastoral activities associated with this feast are characterized by simplicity and dignity, while preserving the spirituality of the glorious Nativity and its human dimensions, and giving priority to prayers and spiritual activities and the accompanying acts of mercy and social solidarity," the bishops wrote.

The council also called for Christmas trees to serve as symbols of hope, unity, and peace, and for candles to be lit in memory of those killed, with a memorial space dedicated to them. These gestures, it said, should reflect the values of justice and peace and the message of Christmas.

This story was first published by ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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SINGAPORE — When AsiaOne, a secular Singapore news site, posted a 14-minute video interview with Father Marcus Dominic Chew on Oct. 21, it introduced him as Singapore's youngest Catholic priest, at 31. By Nov. 8, the video — part of its "Of Beliefs & Faiths" series — had drawn more than 160,000 views on YouTube.

Chew was one of four men ordained as priests by Cardinal William Goh at St. Joseph's Church (Bukit Timah) on June 1. He now serves as assistant parish priest at the Church of the Holy Spirit, where he was filmed when he was still a transitional deacon.

In the video, Chew admits that as a teenager he was "Catholic in name." God, he says, was someone he prayed to "when I need to pass my Chinese exam."

That changed at a morning Mass after an argument with his parents about what to do after his O-level exams. The Gospel that day was the story of the rich young man who was told to sell everything, give to the poor, and follow Christ.

"I felt like it was a direct response to my prayer," Chew says. Looking up at the priest at the altar, he realized "this guy could be doing anything else with his life."

He entered the seminary at age 22, straight after National Service. At first, his parents were not supportive. His mother told him a priest's life was difficult, that it seemed "a bit of a waste," and that she feared he would regret spending his 20s in the seminary. Then, on Mother's Day, she told him: "You're my son and I think you will make a good priest."

His father came around earlier. After his father lost his eyesight, Chew feared he would be "an unfilial son." At an evening Mass, the Gospel was Jesus' reply to a man who wanted first to bury his father: "Leave the dead to bury the dead." Weeks later his father phoned him in tears after a Mass on Vocation Sunday. "If this is what God wants you to do, you go," he said.

How did such a story land with Singaporeans who do not share the Catholic faith?

Sam Ho, 43, who works in communications and has no religion, found Chew to be "a very grounded person who has clarity in his purpose. He is also very Singaporean, which makes him relatable."

The video did not change how he sees priests, he said. "I already know that priests make a lot of sacrifices to do what they do." He noted Chew's honesty about once treating God as "transactional" for "self-centered gains, such as doing well in school," and called him "an exemplary ambassador of Catholicism, with his humility and prioritization of God and serving the community, while acknowledging his imperfections and sacrifices."

He said it did not make him curious about the faith because he already has "deep admiration and respect for many Catholics" he knows. Still, the story's themes resonated: "How we can consistently maintain clarity on the bigger picture or larger purpose; how we can better serve; and how we reframe what we think are sacrifices?"

RP Singh, 47, a director who is Sikh, saw Chew as "very calm and aware of what he wants to do in life." The words that stayed with him were the ones Chew heard at that evening Mass, "Leave the dead to bury the dead," which he took to mean "we should not hold on to the past."

"To me, this wasn't a religious story," he said. "It was a personal story of how someone chose to be religious." Chew's journey, he added, "showed how some people know from the very beginning about what they want in life."

Tang Song Hee, 49, a pilot who attended a Catholic school as a teenager, was less moved. He recalled school prayer sessions that "couldn't end fast enough."

"I explored religion when I was younger. Nothing happened," he said, adding that he had no epiphany like the one the young priest described.

Chew himself says his clerical clothing invites exactly these encounters. Strangers often ask, "Are you a pastor?"

"I get it a lot," he says in the video. "And then it opens up a conversation."

The video ends on his ordination day, as people arrive to celebrate with him. "Even before ordination tears were already shed," he says, "to see the people love God and love the Church."

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According to a study by Latinobarómetro, the percentage of Ibero-Americans who identify as Catholic has fallen from 80% in 1995 to 55% today, a decline of 25 percentage points over 30 years.

Spain and Portugal comprise the Iberian Peninsula; Ibero-America encompasses those nations who trace their ancestry to either of the two.

The report, based on interviews with more than 2,200 people from 17 countries in Central and South America including Brazil, further notes that Panama has seen the sharpest drop in the percentage of Catholics — from 89% to 46%, a difference of 43 percentage points.

Following Panama are Honduras, Brazil, Argentina, and El Salvador, where the number of Catholics has decreased by approximately one-third.

This decline has been least noticeable in Mexico, having fallen by only 8 percentage points, from 77% to 69%. It is followed by Paraguay, Guatemala, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic, all of which have seen a decline of less than 20 percentage points.

Most Catholic country is Paraguay

The Ibero-American country with the highest percentage of Catholics is Paraguay, where eight out of every 10 people identify as members of the Catholic Church (82%), followed by Mexico and Ecuador, where nearly seven out of every 10 people consider themselves Catholic.

The countries with the least percentage of Catholics are Uruguay, El Salvador, and Honduras, where just over a third of the inhabitants identify as Catholic.

Of the 17 countries analyzed, nine have a Catholic majority, while Chile, Brazil, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Uruguay fall below the 50% mark.

Evangelicals and atheists

The countries with the highest proportion of evangelicals are Honduras (44%), Guatemala (43%), and El Salvador (42%), while in Colombia, Venezuela, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, and Ecuador, less than 10% identify as belonging to a Protestant Christian denomination.

Regarding atheists and agnostics, Uruguay stands out, having the largest group in percentage terms, equivalent to half its population (49%), followed by Chile (27%), Argentina (23%), Brazil (21%), and the Dominican Republic (20%). The nations where these groups have the smallest presence are Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

Overall, the regional average of atheists and agnostics has quadrupled from 4% in 1995 to 16% in 2026.

This study reinforces the findings of another Pew Research report published in January covering Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, which noted that Catholics remain the largest group, despite the growth of other denominations.

This story was first published by EWTN News Español, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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"It has been an immense emotion" to see Pope Leo XIV again, said Mother María Priscila, a member of the Missionaries of Jesus, Word and Victim who serves in Cañaris, a Quechua-speaking town in the Andes in the Diocese of Chiclayo.

Her congregation works in the most remote and isolated places in Peru and elsewhere in Latin America. Besides being superior of her community, she is in charge of St. John the Baptist Parish in Cañaris because of a shortage of priests.

She spoke to EWTN News after the pope's prayer meeting on Nov. 14 at the shrine of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo in Zaña, which closed the jubilee year for the 300th anniversary of the saint's canonization.

"I felt a great deal of emotion, because I was fortunate enough to work in Incahuasi, and that is where we had his first visit [in 2014], when he was appointed apostolic administrator. We welcomed him with great emotion and great joy," she said.

Incahuasi, another Andean town, was a place the pope had wanted to visit, but it was dropped from the itinerary because it did not meet minimum technical requirements.

"Seeing him now as Holy Father has been an immense emotion, because he is very well known to me: We have shared time on several occasions, on his pastoral tours, on missions with the communities," she said.

Asked what the pope told her after she gave her testimony at the meeting, she said he asked where she was working now. "He congratulated me and told me to keep going, working in those communities, which need it so much."

In her testimony, the sister recalled how often Robert Prevost had come to the diocese's high Andean region despite the rugged terrain, speaking about Christ "to so many boys and girls, as Jesus did with his disciples," and sharing "such human moments, with such simplicity and humanity."

"Those gestures have filled our hearts with the joy of living in a Church that is close to people, that cares about the evangelization of everyone," she said.

Abel Camasca contributed to this report from Zaña, Peru.

This story was first published by EWTN News Español. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.

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ZAÑA, Peru — Pope Leo XIV on Saturday acknowledged the suffering of Afro-Peruvians during a visit to a city that is a historic center of that community.

"Zaña also preserves the memory of generations of Africans who were torn from their homes and subjected to slavery. Many endured great suffering and humiliation," the pope said. "Dear brothers and sisters of African descent, today I want to express my affection and closeness to you."

The pope spoke Saturday, Nov. 14, at the shrine of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo at Zaña, in the Diocese of Chiclayo, which the future pope led as bishop from 2015 to 2023.

Leo's remarks came after a series of testimonies, including one from a representative of the Afro-Peruvian community.

"Our history has known the pain of exclusion, but also a profound capacity to endure, rise again and celebrate life," said Analí Montenegro Mendoza, who represented the Afro-Peruvian community of the Diocese of Chiclayo. "Holy Father, we hope and pray for a Church where no one feels inferior because of their skin color, history or culture."

Leo encouraged Afro-Peruvians to follow the example of perseverance set by St. Martin de Porres, born in Lima in 1579 and barred from full membership in a religious order because of his African ancestry, but who was eventually canonized as a saint.

The pope also lamented that "many families in this region suffer because of crime, extortion and insecurity. I am pained at the thought of those who live in fear, of people whose honest labor is under threat and of those who continue to experience discrimination."

Violent crime is an urgent problem across Latin America and the Caribbean, which according to the United Nations has the world's highest homicide rate, four times the global average.

Leo was speaking at a prayer meeting marking the end of a jubilee year celebrating the 300th anniversary of the canonization of St. Turibius, a Spanish missionary who served as archbishop of Lima from 1581 until his death in 1606 and who promoted the use of the Indigenous languages Quechua and Aymara in evangelization.

Earlier this month, the saint was officially recognized by the Peruvian state as the patron of human rights in the country and a pioneer in the defense of human dignity.

The pope has a particular devotion to St. Turibius. The day before he became the bishop of Chiclayo, then-Father Robert Prevost spent the night in prayer before a relic of the saint in Zaña, an episode that he recalled on Saturday.

Abel Camasca contributed to this report from Zaña, Peru.

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Pope Leo XIV on Nov. 14 visited his former cathedral in Peru, participated in a Marian crowning ceremony, celebrated Mass in the Santa Cruz province, and met with local Catholics during a packed Saturday in his adopted country.

The pope held a papal Mass in Santa Cruz de Succhabamba and later returned to Chiclayo to participate in a prayer vigil marking the closing of the jubilee year of the canonization of St. Turibius of Mogrovejo.

Here are photos of the pope's activities on Nov. 14:

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SANTA CRUZ DE SUCCHABAMBA, Peru — Pope Leo XIV, who served for two decades as a missionary in Peru, traveled on Saturday to a remote mountain corner of his former diocese and paid tribute to the missionaries who had evangelized the land for centuries. 

"Time and again, they came without provisions or letters of recommendation, to proclaim the name of Jesus and spread devotion to the Lord of Miracles of Andabamba and his Immaculate Mother," the pope said in his homily at an open-air Mass, referring to the two parishes in Santa Cruz, a town in the Andean highlands.

Leo arrived on Saturday by military helicopter, but he acknowledged that much of the congregation had made a more difficult trip.

"Many of you have traveled long distances to be here. Some have come from rural communities, leaving behind your families, farms and daily occupations. The journey you made is not only a passage along difficult roads, but also a pilgrimage of faith," the pope said.

More than 20,000 people attended the Mass on the town's esplanade, according to local authorities. 

Leo praised the popular piety of the high Andes, where he said faith "has grown simply and genuinely, founded on the daily living of Gospel values and expressed in traditions and festivals that bring peoples and generations together."

Speaking to a largely poor congregation, the pope stressed "how important it is to pray without ever losing heart," but he said that did not preclude taking action to relieve hardship and injustice. He specifically mentioned the problems of economically driven emigration from rural areas and inequities in the distribution of natural resources.

"In the face of so many difficulties, we may be tempted to give in to discouragement, resentment or even violence. Yet this will never lead to progress and peace," Leo said.

"Selfishness, injustice and evil are not overcome by brutality, but by prayer, patience and perseverance in denouncing what is wrong, by making our pleas with determination and working diligently to bring about the necessary changes, while never losing trust in God."

During his time as a missionary in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s, the future pope witnessed and protested against both left-wing terrorism and right-wing counterterrorism, a conflict whose legacy the country is still reckoning with today.

"There is a close relationship between faith, prayer and action. Where there is faith, there is prayer; and where there is prayer, there is the capacity to commit oneself to others," Leo said.

In particular, he commended "those who, with ingenuity and an entrepreneurial spirit, strive to provide people with dignified jobs: farmers, shopkeepers, small business owners and so many others who, here day after day, put their God-given talents at the service of their communities."

Later in the day, Leo was scheduled to address a prayer meeting near Chiclayo at the shrine of St. Turibius de Mogrovejo, a Spanish missionary who served as archbishop of Lima from 1581 until his death in 1606.

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