Ahead of the Pope’s upcoming trip to Korea, Aug. 13-18, on the occasion of the 6th Asian Youth Day, the Vatican has released statistics on the Church in the Asian country.
The figures are provided by the Central Office of Church Statistics, as of the 2013 year-end.
With an area of 99,268 square kilometers, the Republic of Korea has a population of 50,220,000, of whom 5,393,000 are Catholics, which corresponds to 10.7 percent of the population.
Regarding religious there, the statistics record 16 ecclesiastical circumscriptions, 1,673 parishes and 843 pastoral centers. The apostolate is carried out by 35 bishops, 4,261 priests, 516 male religious 9,016 female religious, 123 lay missionaries and 14,195 catechists. There are 395 minor and 1,489 major seminarians.
The figures also show there are 328 educational centers of all levels, directed or owned by the Catholic Church throughout Korea, in which there are 221,020 students, as well as 49 special centers.
In addition to 200 health and welfare centers belonging to, or directed by, the Church, the numbers affirm the existence of 40 hospitals, four clinics, nine leper colonies, 513 rest homes for the elderly and disabled, 277 orphanages and nurseries, and 83 centers for family counseling and the protection of life. (D.C.L.)
