Number of people leaving Catholic Church in Austria fell in 2020

January 14, 2021 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

The high altar of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria. Credit: Bwag via Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

CNA Staff, Jan 14, 2021 / 04:00 am (CNA).- Fewer people left the Catholic Church in Austria in 2020 than in the previous year, according to official figures released on Wednesday.

New statistics, published on Jan. 13, showed that 58,535 people formally left the Church in 2020, compared to 67,794 in 2019 — a drop of 13.7%.

All Austrian dioceses recorded a decline in the number of people leaving, reported CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, defying expectations in a year dominated by the coronavirus crisis.

Overall, the number of Catholics in Austria fell by around 1.5%, from 4.98 million in 2019 to 4.91 million in 2020.

Church authorities said that 3,807 people rejoined the Church or joined for the first time in 2020 — 28.7% fewer than in 2019, when 4,898 people joined or rejoined.

In addition, 461 people made use of their “right of withdrawal” in 2020. People invoking this right — known as “Recht auf Widerruf” in German — initially declared their intention to leave the Church but decided not to take the step after contacting Church officials within a three-month period.

“In any case, the decisive factors for the slight decline in the number of Catholics are not only the ratio of resignations to Church admissions but above all also the ratio of baptisms to deaths and of arrivals to departures,” said the bishops’ conference.

Other areas of the Austrian Church are defying the downward trend.

In November, the archdiocese of Vienna announced a rise in the number of men training for the priesthood.

Fourteen new candidates entered the archdiocese’s three seminaries this autumn. Eleven of them are from Vienna archdiocese and the remaining three are from the dioceses of Eisenstadt and St. Pölten.

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Attacker of religious sister arrested amid spate of anti-Catholicism in Austria

November 2, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

CNA Staff, Nov 2, 2020 / 02:02 pm (CNA).- After a Catholic religious sister was attacked on a bus, police have arrested a 19-year-old Afghan, according to police in the Austrian state of Styria. The attack came among a spate of anti-Catholic attacks and demonstrations in Austria.

The nun, 76, was attacked on Saturday afternoon on a bus in the Austrian city of Graz. The perpetrator hit the sister in the face and then fled.

Police officers seized video material from the bus, after which the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counter Terrorism arrested the Afghan-born teenager. The suspect, already known to the police for drug offenses and assault, has confessed to the crime; his motive is still unclear, police say.

Several anti-Christian incidents have caused a stir in Austria, after last week’s terrorist attack by a man shouting Islamist phrases at a cathedral in France.

Between 30 and 50 young people also attacked a church in Vienna-Favoriten on Thursday evening. According to several media reports, the perpetrators were a group of young Turks. The attackers stormed into the parish church of St. Anton in Favoriten, shouted “Allahu Akbar,” and kicking pews and other furnishing in the church. 

The Archdiocese of Vienna condemned the attack and called for “quick clarification” and “consequences.”

The Vienna State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combating Terrorism was given video material by the church’s deputy pastor, which is currently being evaluated.

Another Afghan was arrested over the weekend while shouting “Islamic slogans” in St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna police confirmed to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German language news partner.

Churches in Vienna are now being monitored more closely as part of the patrol service, the police told CNA Deutsch.

A version of this report was first published by CNA Deutsch. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

 


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