The Pillar

Home
About
News
Pillar Posts
Analysis
Interviews
Explainers
On Leo's Desk
Data
Pillar Columns
Starting Seven
The Pillar Podcast
Sunday School
Look Closer
The Pillar TL;DR
News
—
Church in Latin America

Study: Sacraments in decline in Latin America

The number of annual baptisms, weddings, and confirmations declined between 2000 and 2020, while priest numbers are on the rise.

Luke Coppen
Oct 21, 2023
∙ Paid

A major new study of the Catholic Church in Latin America has highlighted a decline in the number of baptisms and other sacraments.

A Chrism Mass in Chitre, Panama. Andrés Espinosa via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The 286-page report, issued by the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM), said that the number of annual baptisms had fallen from 8,197,000 in 2000 to 5,135,000 in 2020. Confirmations and Catholic marriages …

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 The Pillar · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture