Vatican officials sought Tuesday to correct what they called the "false illusion" that there are fewer priests, saying their ranks were up slightly worldwide and fewer seminarians were abandoning their vocations.
The Congregation for the Clergy said the number of priests dropped significantly in North America and Europe between 1961 and 2001, but that decline was offset by an even larger increase in Asia, Africa and Central America during that period.
Vatican statistics showed that the number of Roman Catholic priests worldwide in 2001 was 405,067, up from 404,082 in 1961.
However, the number of Catholic faithful has nearly doubled in that time to more than 1 billion, meaning the ratio of Catholics to priests has increased significantly.
Statistics show there were 2,619 Catholics per priest in 2001, compared with 1,800 per priest in 1978.
But Vatican officials stressed that their outlook was not as dim as some would believe, given that increased life expectancy enabled priests to tend to their flocks longer and a greater proportion of seminarians were being ordained.
"I think the crisis has turned into a new form, according to the culture, and we have all the hope for the better," said Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, head of the Congregation for the Clergy.
The upbeat assessment came amid calls from some that the Vatican should address a shortage of priests by relaxing its celibacy requirement and allowing women to become priests.
Pope John Paul II referred to the situation in an Easter Week letter to priests released Thursday, urging them to be good role models for altar boys so they, too, may consider the priesthood.
He noted that the number of priests was falling in some parts of the world and that there were not enough replacements.
But he said: "In other places, thank God, we see a promising springtime of vocations."
Regardless, "the number of priests is never sufficient to meet the constantly increasing demands of evangelization and the pastoral care of the faithful," he said.
Between 1961 and 2001, Europe and North America experienced a sharp drop in the number of priests. There were 250,859 in Europe in 1961 and only 206,761 four decades later. In North America, the numbers went from 71,725 to 57,988.
But Asia, Africa and Latin America all saw significant spikes during the same timeframe. Latin America added about 20,000 priests, going from 43,202 to 63,159. Asia had a similar spike, from 25,535 to 44,446, while Africa went from 16,541 to 27,988.
"The precipitous drop in some Western countries shouldn't create a false illusion," said Monsignor Csaba Ternyak, the congregation's secretary. "It correlates to the progressive aging of the local population, of the worrying phenomenon of the drop in births and, finally, the cultural phenomenon of the increase in secularism."
He attributed the increases in Asia, Africa and Latin America to higher birthrates and the fact that their cultures "are less undermined by religious crises."
Ternyak and Castrillon Hoyos highlighted other statistics that were reasons for optimism, in particular the near doubling of the number of seminarians, from 63,882 in 1978 at the start of John Paul's pontificate to 112,982 in 2001 — and the tendency for them to continue on to ordination.
In 1978, about 9 percent of seminarians dropped out before being ordained. By 2001, the dropout rate was down to less than 7 percent.
"In the history of the church, we have never had so many seminarians, students of philosophy and theology," Ternyak said, adding that today's seminarians were older. "Many times they have already made a long path before finding the priestly vocation."
Other statistics released showed that 64,610 priests abandoned the ministry between 1964 and 2000. From 1970 to 1995, about 20 percent — or 9,551 — of priests who left the ministry returned.