Flere prestekandidater fra Afrika og Asia enn fra Europa og Amerika

Vatican: vocations are increasing, but in different colours

(ANSA) - Vatican City, July 20 - Priestly vocations are no longer shrinking, but ''changing colour'', according to the Vatican's 1994 statistical yearbook.

The majority of seminarians nearing ordination as priests are not white, but black or Asian. In 1970, before the drop in vocations, 45.65 percent of priests were European, 18.78 percent were from the U.S., 5.33 percent were Africans and 14.55 percent were Asian.

By 1994, Europeans were only 28.85 percent and North Americans had shrunk to 5.8 percent, while Africans had risen to 16.4 percent and Asians to 23.18 percent of priests worldwide.

One the one hand, Vatican sources described these figures as positive: seminarians nearing priesthood in 1970 were only 72,991 worldwide, and in 1994 they were 105,075. In 1976 they had actually reached a low of 60,368.

But concern was also expressed about distribution of priests throughout the world: in Africa, Asia and Latin America, vocations are multiplying rapidly, while in Europe, the U.S. and Oceania they are decreasing significantly in proportion to the Catholic population.