Next Pope Challenges: Number of Followers

Whoever the next Pope ends up being, he will face some challenges. One obstacle will be the number of followers of the Roman Catholic Church worldwide.

FOX News Radio’s Emily Wither reports in a FOX News Radio special series:

In the traditional strongholds for the Catholic Church, that’s places like Italy, France, Spain and Ireland, the number of worshipers are dropping. According to Pew Research, European Catholics have actually shrunk by more than half over the past century.

Wadi Abu Nassar represents the Catholic Church of the Holy Land based in Jerusalem. He blames it on a more materialistic society in Europe.

(Nassar) “Unfortunately when people feel that they are strong economically, in terms of health, many people tend to forget God.”

These days Pew found that more than 40% of the world’s Catholics are located in North or South America.
And Nassar says the church is also growing in Africa. He says the main challenge facing the world is faith.

(Nassar) “Nowadays many Christians are there because they were born Christians.”

Nassar says the church must strengthen people’s belief in God.

In Jerusalem, Emily Wither, Fox News Radio.

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