The world's Catholic population grew by 16 million in most recent statistical analysis.
A Vatican official has praised the Philippines for leading the world in Catholic baptisms. The figures come from the 2020 Statistical Yearbook of the Church (the most recent year for which statistics are available), which found the Philippines to have baptized 1.6 million new Catholics.
Interaksyon reports that Archbishop Charles Brown, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, brought up the baptismal rate of the island nation during an interview with Radio Veritas, on April 17. He said: