The Bishops of Pope John Paul I

Pope John Paul I served as Pope for just over a month in 1978.

During that short pontificate he named a number of bishops and gave others new roles. Here is a list of those he appointed, in order of appointment:

• Donato Squicciarini, named Apostolic Nuncio to Burundi and titular archbishop on 31 Aug. Died on 5 Mar 2006 after serving as a bishop for 27 years.
• Eustathe Joseph Mounayer, already a bishop, named Archbishop of Damas (Syrian) on 4 Sep. Died on 16 Feb 2007 having served as a bishop for 35 years.
• Ireneo A. Amantillo, C.SS.R., already a bishop, named Bishop of Tandag on 6 Sep. Resigned in 2001 and still living.
• Giovanni Cheli, named a titular archbishop on 8 Sep and later a cardinal by Pope John Paul II. Died in 2013 after serving as a bishop for 34 years.
• Didier-Léon Marchand, named Bishop of Valence (-Die-Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux) on 8 Sep. Retired in 2001 and still living.
• Joseph Dao, named Bishop of Kayes on 12 Sep. He died in 2011 after having served as a bishop for 32 years.
• Rémy Augustin, S.M.M., already a bishop, named Bishop of Port-de-Paix on 18 Sep. He died in 1983 having served as a bishop for 29 years.
• François Colímon, S.M.M., named Coadjutor Bishop of Port-de-Paix on 18 Sep. He later succeeded and eventually resigned in 2008. He is still living.
• Adam Dyczkowski, named Auxiliary Bishop of Wroclaw {Breslavia} on 19 Sep. He was later named to other posts and eventually retired in 2007. He is still living.
• Jacques André Marie Jullien, named Bishop of Beauvais (-Noyon-Senlis) on 20 Sep. He was later named an archbishop. He died in 2012 having served as a bishop for 34 years.
• Jerzy Stroba, already a bishop, named Archbishop of Poznan on 21 Sep. He died in 1999, having served as a bishop for 40 years.
• Javier Azagra Labiano, already a bishop, named Bishop of Cartagena (en España) on 23 Sep. He retired in 1998 and is still living.
• Augusto César Alves Ferreira da Silva, C.M., already a bishop, named Bishop of Portalegre-Castelo Branco on 25 Sep. He resigned in 2004 and is still living.
• Alphonse U Than Aung, already a bishop, named Archbishop of Mandalay on 25 Sep. He died in 2004 having served as a bishop for 29 years.

Of those 14, only 6 are still living. Half (7) of the 14 were already bishops.

Religious Orders in Recent Times (top dozen, charts)

I've created 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)

On the number of priests, data mostly goes back to 1966 through 2012. The overall trend appears downward (-30%), but there are several exceptions.

The Salesians (-1%), Conventual Franciscans (+5%), and Discalced Carmelites (+13%) have basically been stable over the entire time period. The Divine Word Missionaries actually had a substantial (38%) increase.

The number of members data goes from 1950 to 2012, generally. Again, the overall trend is downward (-28%), but there are also exceptions. The most obvious difference from the previous charts is that thanks to the extra 15 years of data, it is clear that there was a substantial bump up across the board leading into the mid-1960s which then fell away in later years.

The exceptions to the trend are: Conventual Franciscans (+26%), Discalced Carmelites (+28%), and Divine Word Missionaries (+45%). Salesians deserve a mention again have only a small loss (-5%).

If I look at the overall trend from the high point of each order through the most current data, the trend looks much worse: down 39% overall.

From this perspective, even our previous exceptions have a slight downward tilt: Divine Word Missionaries (-2%), Conventual Franciscans (-10%), and Discalced Carmelites (-6%).

The Divine Word Missionaries deserve a special mention as the only order of the top dozen whose highest number of members was after the 1960s (it was in 2009).

(* 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.

Note II: I updated the charts and the stats above with several additional years of data, including 2012 (from Annuario Pontificio 2013). I've also added a second chart covering just the order Legionaries of Christ here (.pdf format).

The Two Dozen Largest Orders (by Number of Priests) 2012 Edition

In the tables below are the number of priests, % of all priests in orders, the common abbreviation, and the name of the order.

The First Dozen

Priests	%	Abbr	Order
12,739	9.4	S.J.	Society of Jesus
10,625	7.9	S.D.B.	Salesians of Saint John Bosco
9,828	7.3	O.F.M.	Order of Friars Minor
7,026	5.2	O.F.M. Cap.	Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
4,469	3.3	O.P.	Order of Friars Preachers
4,124	3.0	S.V.D.	Society of the Divine Word
4,055	3.0	C.SS.R.	Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer
4,008	3.0	O.S.B.	Order of Saint Benedict
3,061	2.3	O.M.I.	Oblates of Mary Immaculate
3,024	2.2	C.M.	Congregation of the Mission
2,928	2.2	O.F.M. Conv.	Order of Friars Minor Conventual
2,737	2.0	O.C.D.	Order of Discalced Carmelites

The top 12 largest orders (by number of priests) in total are 51% of all the priests in orders.

The Second Dozen

Priests	%	Abbr	Order
2,177	1.6	C.S.Sp.	Congregation of the Holy Spirit
2,152	1.6	C.M.F.	Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
2,043	1.5	O.S.A.	Order of St. Augustine
1,675	1.2	C.M.I.	Carmelites of Mary Immaculate
1,672	1.2	S.A.C.	Society of the Catholic Apostolate
1,639	1.2	C.P.	Congregation of the Passion
1,633	1.2	S.C.I.	Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart
1,365	1.0	M.S.C.	Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
1,348	1.0	M. Afr.	Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers)
1,343	1.0	O. Carm.	Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
1,261	0.9	M.C.C.I.	Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus
995	0.7	Sch. P.	Order of the Pious Schools

The top two dozen largest orders include all that have more than 1,000 priests and in total represent 65% of all priests in orders.

(Numbers based on the Annuario Pontificio 2012)