NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Cardinal Jozef Tomko, the prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Evangelization, today lamented that the growth in the number of Catholics is not keeping pace with the overall growth of the world's population. In recent years, he said, the Catholic proportion of the world's population has dropped from 18 to 17 percent.

      The figures submitted by the Congregation for Evangelization indicate that there are 2 billion Christians among the world's 5.8 billion people. Of these, roughly 1 billion are Catholics.

      "The missionary field is immense," said Cardinal Tomko. "One could say that two-thirds of humanity does not know Jesus Christ, in terms of faith." Citing the encyclical Redemptoris Missio, he added: "The mission of Christ the Redeemer, confided to the Church, is far from being accomplished. At the end of the second millennium since his coming, that mission is still at its beginnings stages"

      Nevertheless, the cardinal continued, the Church's missionary work shows many "tangible signs of belief." He pointed to Africa, in particular, as a rich field for missionary work, despite the "interior and exterior" challenges. He cited Asia as the continent where the missionary challenge is greatest, since Catholics comprise only a tiny faction of the population.