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                             Vatican Information Service.   
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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   STATISTICS FOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN SPAIN   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 29 OCT 2010 (VIS) - For the occasion of Benedict XVI's apostolic   
   trip to the Spanish cities of Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona, due to take   
   place on 6 and 7 November, statistics have been published concerning the   
   Catholic Church in that country. The information, updated to 31 December 2009,   
   comes from the Central Statistical Office of the Church.   
      
   Spain has a surface area of 505,992 square kilometres and a population of   
   45,929,000 of whom 42,470,000 (92.5 percent) are Catholic. There are 70   
   ecclesiastical circumscriptions and 22,674 parishes. Currently there are 124   
   bishops, 24,849 priests, 54,599 religious, 2,786 lay members of secular   
   institutes and 101,261 catechists. Minor seminarians number 1,943 and major   
   seminarians 1,963.   
      
   A total of 1,596,429 students attend 5,585 centres of Catholic education, from   
   kindergartens to universities. Other institutions belonging to the Church or   
   run by priests or religious in Spain include 93 hospitals, 72 clinics, 788   
   homes for the elderly or disabled, 435 orphanages and nurseries, 301 family   
   counselling centres and other pro-life centres, 3,036 centres for education and   
   social rehabilitation, and 400 institutions of other kinds.   
   OP/VIS 20101029 (190)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
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    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS =Meridian, MS= bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)