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                             Vatican Information Service.   
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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   STATISTICS FOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN GREAT BRITAIN   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 7 SEP 2010 (VIS) - For the occasion of Benedict XVI's forthcoming   
   apostolic trip to the United Kingdom, due to take place from 16 to 19 September   
   and during which he will beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman, statistics   
   concerning the Catholic Church in that country have been published. The   
   information, updated to 31 December 2009, comes from the Central Statistical   
   Office of the Church.   
      
   Great Britain has a surface area of 230,762 square kilometres and a population   
   of 59,381,000 of whom 5,264,000 (8.87 percent) are Catholic. There are 32   
   ecclesiastical circumscriptions and 2,977 parishes. Currently there are 59   
   bishops, 5,225 priests, 6,497 religious, 160 lay members of secular institutes   
   and 34,669 catechists. Minor seminarians number 2, and major seminarians 245.   
      
   A total of 806,334 children and young people attend 2,828 centres of Catholic   
   education, from kindergartens to universities. Other institutions belonging to   
   the Church, or run by priests or religious in Great Britain include 8   
   hospitals, 1 clinic, 171 homes for the elderly or disabled, 79 orphanages and   
   nurseries, 94 family counselling centres and other pro-life centres, 147   
   centres for education and social rehabilitation, and 31 institutions of other   
   kinds.   
   OP/VIS 20100907 (200)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
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    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)