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