Thursday, January 13, 2011

Austrian Catholic church exits increase to a record high since 1945

Austria's bishops conference says more Roman Catholics left the church last year than at any time since 1945.

Church officials say 87,000 Austrian Catholics left in 2010. 

That's a 64 per cent increase over the 53,000 who formally had their names struck from church registries in 2009.

The bishops' conference said Tuesday the largest exodus came in the aftermath of recent sex abuse scandals in Austria.

A statement from the Catholic church said the total number of Roman-Catholics in Austria dropped from around 5.53 million in 2009 to an estimated 5.45 million in 2010.

Austrian law forces residents registered as followers of most recognized religions to pay a small percentage of their earnings toward support of their churches or temples.

SIC: WFP/USA