GROWTH OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM.
Monsignor Loubet, a Roman Catholic missionary, has recently published a book, says the Catholic Mirror, on the progress of Roman Catholicism, in which he gives the following statistics:— “In 1850 there were scarcely 3,258,440 Catholics in all the Protestant European countries; there were 8,000,000 in Ireland, 6,000,000 in Germany, 6,500,000 in Poland, and 350,000 in Switzerland. In Turkey in Europe, Monsignor Loubet tells us that there were only 250,000 Catholics. There were 381,600 in Asiatic Turkey, 475,000 in the Indian Vicariate, 310,000 in Indo-China, 6,000 in Korea, 61,000 in the United States, 120,000 in Canada, 105,000 in the West Indies, 38,000 in Texas and California, 30,000 in South America. “The Catholics in England have now increased to 1,690,921. There are 1,626 more churches and 2,000 more Catholic schools than in 1850. Germany now counts 16,000,000, instead of only 6,000,000, and Holland 1,488,852, instead of 350,000. Switzerland now counts 1,800,000, and Russia 2,882,891; the Caucasus, 26,815; Siberia, 24,316; and Central Asia, 1,396 Catholics. In Persia and Asiatic Turkey Catholics increased from 400,000 to 659,690. There were 475,000 Catholics in India in 1890; to-day there are more than 1,692,937. Only 5 missions existed in China in 1890; there are now 38, and 576,440 faithful. The United States shows a return of 7,977,278 Catholics in 1890, and Canada 2,000,000. Treating of Africa, Monsignor Loubet says that there are 400,000 Catholics, 260 churches, and 220 schools in Algiers, and he gives other interesting details of other parts of the Dark Continent. An apostolic prefecture was established in the Sahara in 1868, and in Erythrea in 1894. There are numerous flourishing missions in other parts of Africa, and in the east there are now 5 missions, 40 churches, 37 schools, and 23,160 faithful. The above statistics speak for themselves with regard to the state of the church all over the world.”