p. 16 | Increase of Catholicism

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 20, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 29.

Increase of Catholicism.

In a recent address by Mr. Charles J. Bonaparte, printed in the Catholic Mirror, of July 2, he gives the following figures as indicative of the growth of the Roman Catholic Church in America. In 1789 the American hierarchy was established by bull of Pope Pius VI. The Catholic population was then estimated at 40,000—one hundredth part of all the population of the United States. A century later there were over 8,000,000 Roman Catholics, more than one eighth of all the population; and in the last fifteen years the increase has been more rapid still. “While the number of American citizens has increased perhaps twenty-fold, the number of American Catholics has increased much more than 300-fold.” What a tremendous influence is this in politics.