Religious Orders in Recent Times (top dozen, charts, 2018)

I've updated a few charts that look at the number of priests and members of religious orders over the last several decades. To avoid it looking like spaghetti, I only used the top dozen orders based on number of priests*. I also split the top 4 from the other 8 - there is very little overlap between the two and it makes the charts much clearer.

The charts are posted here. (.pdf format)

The Jesuits were the first order (of the top dozen) to have lost more than half of their members from their recent high point (from 36,038 in 1966 to 17,908 in 2011). They are currently at 16,088 members, down 55% from the all time high.

One might note that there is no significant change since Pope Francis (a Jesuit) became Pope. In fairness, it normally takes several years for any event in a religious order (or diocese) to show in the vocation numbers.

Two more orders reached that milestone in 2016: Franciscans (now down 51%) and Oblates of Mary Immaculate (now down 50%).

Two more orders are very close to reaching that point: Redemptorists (down 47%) and Vincentians/Lazarists (down 41%). The first showed a small drop in the last year and the second an increase.

In terms of priests, only one order has reached that point, the Benedictines which are down 51% from their recent high point (from 7,058 in the early 1970s to 3,445 in 2017).

Three other orders are in danger of reaching that point: the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (down 46%), Franciscans (down 45%), and the Jesuits (down 45%).

In the top dozen, only one order, Divine Word Missionaries, has hit its high mark in terms of members in recent years (6,131 in 2009).

In terms of priests, two orders hit their highest mark in 2016: Divine Word Missionaries with 4,231 and Discalced Carmelites with 2,937.

Overall, adding all of the top 12 together, the all time high was in 1966 with 160,926 total members. In 2017, that had dropped 42% to 94,202. In terms of priests, the high was in 1971 with 95,411 total priests. In 2017, that had dropped 32% to 65,358.

(* Out of curiosity I checked the top dozen orders based on number of members - it was the same dozen, but in a slightly different order.)

Note that only Male Religious Orders were included because that happens to be the data I have readily available. As time permits, I'll try to do similar charts for Female Religious Orders.

Now featuring over 40,000 Bishops

Once again, I've been working on some older data entry for the site. In doing so, it has passed a milestone: it now has data on over 40,000 Bishops.

Here is a quick table showing how the data has expanded over time:

Year	Month	Bishops	Months from previous
2002	Jun	5,000
2002	Nov	10,000	5
2003	Oct	15,000	11
2006	Sep	20,000	35
2009	Jan	25,000	28
2011	Feb	30,000	25
2014	Jan	35,000	35
2018	Aug	40,000	55

(Note: there are a few "bishops" on the site that are not really bishops. These are mostly either ordinaries of a jurisdiction such as a prefecture or cardinals that were not also bishops.)

Cardinal Electors and Modern Limits

First a bit of background information before we get to the periods were there was more than 120 Cardinal Electors.

The age limit on electors became effective on 1 Jan 1971 (Ingravescentem Aetatem). The limit of 120 electors was added on 1 Oct 1975 (Romano Pontifici Eligendo). The current rule (cardinals age 80 or less on the day the Holy See becomes vacant may vote) was added on 22 Feb 1996 (Universi Dominici Gregis).

Before the 1996 language, it is not possible to precisely say the number of cardinal electors (it was based on when the conclave began), so I'll disregard the 2 times before then when the number could have been 121 for short periods.

Since then, there have been 10 times when the 120 number was exceeded.

Start	End	Highest	Days	Pope	Note
21-Feb-2001	1-Aug-2002	136	526	JP2
21-Oct-2003	12-Dec-2004	134	418	JP2	1
21-Oct-2003	10-Jan-2005	135	447	JP2	2
24-Mar-2006	25-Mar-2006	121	1	B16
20-Nov-2010	27-Jan-2011	121	68	B16
18-Feb-2012	27-Jul-2012	125	160	B16
22-Feb-2014	12-Mar-2014	122	18	F
14-Feb-2015	20-Apr-2015	125	65	F
19-Nov-2016	29-Nov-2016	121	10	F
28-Jun-2017	6-Sep-2017	121	70	F
28-Jun-2018	28-Apr-2019	125	304	F	3

There are two entries beginning in 2003 due to Cardinal Gulbinowicz. At the time it was thought that his birth year was 1928 (age out in 2008), but in reality it was 1923 (age out in 2003 just before the consistory). The correct birth year was not acknowledged until February 2005.
1) in reality
2) as perceived at the time
3) the final period is an estimate that assumes no cardinal elector dies and no new ones are created before the end date.

For completeness, here are the other times when the 120 limit was exceeded with some notes.

Start	End	Highest	Days	Pope	Note
28-Apr-1968	1-Jan-1971	134	978	P6	1
30-Jun-1979	1-Jul-1979	121	1	JP2	2
28-Jun-1988	27-Jul-1988	121	29	JP2	2

1) This was before the age limit and the 120 cardinal elector limit existed.
2) The count and Days are based on the current language. At the time the age limit was more vague and a precise count of electors is not possible.

(Revised on 27 Aug 2018 to add info about Cardinal Gulbinowicz)