Total
Population.
59,000,(100 27,000,000 312,f)00,000 831,000.000 205,000,00(1 4,500,000
1,4H9,000,0(»0
2H, 000,(10(1 25,000,000 149,000,000 9,400,000 2,200,000 (i00,000
35,000,000
400,000
74,600,000
600,000
1,100,000
2.000,000
209,200,000 113,700,000
75,000,000 9,500,000 3,500,000
88,000,000
hierarchy of .England and Wales, as restored Sept. 29, 1850, by letters apostolic of Pius IX, comprises the prov- ince of Westminster, consisting of the archiepiscopal see of Westminster and twelve suffragans. In the United States 34 new episcopal sees were established during the pontificate of Pius, and 10 sees raised to archbish- oprics. The first addition made by pope Leo XIII to the Catiiolic hierarchy was the restoration of the hie- rarchy of Scotland on March 4, 1878. It comprises the archiepiscopal see of Glasgow, which is without suffra- gan sees, and the province of St. Andrew's and Edin- burgh, which consists of the archiepiscopal see of St. An- drew's and E<linburgh,with four suffragan sees. At the beginning of 1879 the British empire had 14 archbish- ops, 76 bishops, 33 vicars apostolic, and 7 prefects apos- tolic. Of the archbishoprics, 1 was in England, 2 in Scotland, 4 in Ireland, 4 in British North America,! in the West Indies, 2 in Australia; of the bishoprics, 12 in England, 4 in Scotland, 24 in Ireland, 2 in the European colonies, 1 in Africa, 18 in North America, 1 in the West Indies, 11 in Australia, 3 in New Zealand ; of the vicari- ates apostolic, tvvo thirds are in the Asiatic possessions. Most of these vicariates are at present held by archbish- ops and bishops who take their title from their see in partibus injidflium. Inchiding eight coadjutors or aux- iliary bishops, the total number of archbishops and bish- ops liolding office in the British empire at the begiiniiug of 1879 was 123, a larger number than is at present found in any other country except only Italy. Adding
It will be seen from the above table that the total num- ber of Roman Catholics still exceeds the aggregate number of all other Christians, Among the large con- tinents. South America is almost exclusively Catholic, only two territories (British and Dutch Guiana), togeth- er with the Falkland Islands, being under Protestant governments. Manj' of the other countries are gradu- ally receiving a Protestant population by immigration. The largest number of immigrants is found in Brazil; a smaller number in Chili and the Argentine Confeder- ation. In Europe, the Roman Catholics are about one half of the total population ; they are increasing at a slower ratio than the Protestants and the Eastern churches, because in some of the largest Catholic coun- tries, as France and Spain, the natural increase of the population is slower than in most countries of Europe. In North America, which very rapidly rises in the scale of continents, Roman Catholicism is in a decided minor- ity, although in Jlexico and Central America nearly the entire population is still connected with it. The same is the case with Australia, where the total jiopu- lation increases with still greater rapidity than in North America, and where the Roman Catholics are a decided minority in each of the colonies. A continuance of the rapid increase of the population of North America and Australia, together with a continuance of the numerical proportion between Protestants and Catliolics, woidd materially change the relative position of both in the list of the prominent religions of the world. Outside
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH T9 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
of Europe, America, and Australia, the Roman Catholic Church predominates in the Spanish, Portufiuese, and French colonies, the most populous of which, tiie Philip- pine Islands, have a Catholic population now estimated at about 6,000,000. In Western Asia, one entire East- ern communion, the INIaronites, and fragments, more or less considerable, of all the others, have connected them- selves with the Church of Pome. In Hindostan, Anam, and China, an aggregate population of about 2,000,000 has for several hundred years adhered to that Church, in spite of repeated and bloody persecutions; and even in Japan under the new ajra of religious toleration wliich has been opened by the establishment of intercourse with the Christian nations of Europe and America, descendants of the former Catholics to the number of about 20,000 have openly declared themselves as still attached to the Church. Though this Church continues to make some progress in all her mission fields, no con- quests have been made in the 19th century equal to the success of the Jesuit missionaries in Eastern Asia in the 16th and 17th centuries, or to that of the Prot- estant missionaries in the 19th century in Madagascar. It is a noteworthy fact that the Latin nations of Europe and America are almost a unit in their adhesion to the Koman Catholic Church. The Reformation having been suppressed in the 16th centurj' bj' force in all the Latin countries, the Waldenses in Italy, and some of the French-speaking cantons of Switzerland, with a few hundred thousand Reformed Frenchmen, were, at the beginning of the 19th century, the only dissenters from Rome in Latin Europe and America. The introduction of religious toleration begins to make notable inroads upon the religious uniformity of some of these coun- tries. Thus, the number of native Protestants was in 1878 estimated in Spain at 12,000, in Mexico at 12,000; Italy had 170 new evangelical congregations and 111 stations; and in France and Belgium a number of prom- inent men advised the liberal Catholics to sever their connection with Rome, and, even if they were not pre- pared to embrace fully the doctrines of one of the Prot- estant churches, to inscribe themselves in the civil registers as Protestants. The principality of Roumania, which became an entirely independent state in 1878, also speaks a language chiefly of Latin origin, and is, there- fore, sometimes classed with the Latin nations. Of its population, no more than one per cent, belongs to the Ro- man Catholic Church. With the restoration of the Ger- man empire under Protestant rule, the Roman Catholic Church has almost wholly lost any controlling influence upon the Teutonic nations. Great Britain, with a number of inchoate colonial states, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Holland, are an unbroken phalanx of Prot- estant states. The government of polyglot Austria can hardly be called any longer Teutiinic. In Belgium, a Teutonic nationality is united with a Latin into one state, which nominally is wholly Catholic, though it is now, like Austria, Italy, Portugal, and main' other nom- inally Catholic states, under a liberal administration, which is in open conflict with the demands of the Catholic hierarchies. Of the Slavic nationalities, sev- eral, like the Poles and Czechs, are predominantly Ro- man Catholic ; but there is now no Catholic Slavic state. The governments of all the Slavic states — Russia, Ser- via, Montenegro, and Bulgaria — belong to the Orthodox Eastern Church. To the same Church belongs nearly the entire population of the kingdom of Greece, in which the Roman Catholic Church numbers a population of only 12,000 souls, or less than one per cent. — The Roman Catholics constitute a majority in only six entirely in- dependent states of Europe, viz. Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, and the Austro-Hungarian monarch}'. In the last-named state the Roman Catholics constitute, among the inhabitants of Austria proper, 92 per cent., and in the lands of the Hungarian crown 59 per cent. In France they are 98, and in each of tlie four other states more than 99 per cent. In North and South America the Roman Catliolics are a majority in Mexico,