The 2011 census recorded a rise from 62,000 in 1991 to 124, 618 - almost a quarter of all indigenous Australians.
Indigenous elder and the Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry in the Archdiocese of Sydney, Dr Elsie Heiss, told Catholic Communications in Sydney: "The increasing numbers of young indigenous people proclaiming their faith and regularly attending Mass is partly due to Sydney's World Youth Day in 2008 and WYD in Madrid last year."