Muslims Pass Catholics

Muslims now outnumber Catholics, according to the Vatican:

"For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us," Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Formenti compiles the Vatican's yearbook.

He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population — a stable percentage — while Muslims were at 19.2 percent.

Now sure, Christians still make up 33% of the population, and that's the fairer comparison. But the fall of the Catholic Church is quite a sight to behold. The church has been facing an increasing Priest shortage for quite some time. Perhaps that is why they try to hold onto to them even when they are naughty little boys. Nonetheless, the average age of a priest is over 65 and there are nowhere near enough new entries to replace those that retire or die.

No doubt the chastity requirement is a big recruiting impediment (it sure made my decision easy), and I predict the Catholic church will relax this requirement, and to a lesser extent, allow women in more positions of power, within the next decade. It is that or die as a religion. One of the few things Pope Benedict has said that I agreed with was something along the lines of "Perhaps a smaller church would be a better church". Be careful what you wish for...