Catholic Church

===Membership===
{{Main|Catholic Church by country}}
{{Further|List of Christian denominations by number of members}}
{{bar box
| width=250px
| float=left
| title=Geographic distribution of Catholics in 2021<ref name="AnnuarioPontificio"/>
{{bar percent|[[Americas]]|Blue|48.0}}
{{bar percent|[[Europe]]|Gold|20.9}}
{{bar percent|[[Africa]]|Brown|19.3}}
{{bar percent|[[Asia]]|#d4213d|11.0}}
{{bar percent|[[Oceania]]|Purple|0.8}}
}}As of 2020, Catholicism is the second-largest [[Religious denomination|religious body]] in the world after [[Sunni Islam]].<ref>{{cite web|quote=The Roman Catholic Church, which consists of 23 particular Churches in full communion with the Bishop of Rome. The Catholic Church is the world's second largest religious body after Sunni Islam.|url=https://www.yourdictionary.com/catholic-church|title=Definition of Catholic Church on the Your Dictionary website|publisher=Yourdictionary.com|access-date=3 June 2020|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308175053/https://www.yourdictionary.com/catholic-church|url-status=live}}</ref> Church membership, defined as baptized Catholics, was 1.378 billion at the end of 2021, which is 17.67% of the world population.<ref name="AnnuarioPontificio"/> Brazil has the largest Catholic population in the world, followed by Mexico, the [[Philippines]], and the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pewforum.org/2013/02/13/the-global-catholic-population/|title=The Global Catholic Population|date=13 February 2013|publisher=[[Pew Research Center]]|access-date=4 April 2021|archive-date=28 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928103612/https://www.pewforum.org/2013/02/13/the-global-catholic-population/|url-status=live}}</ref> Catholics represent about half of all Christians.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Chryssides|first1=George D.|last2=Wilkins|first2=Margaret Z.|date=2014|title=Christians in the Twenty-First Century|page=9|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-54558-3|quote=Roughly half of all Christians worldwide are Roman Catholics}}</ref>

Geographic distribution of Catholics worldwide continues to shift, with 19.3% in [[Africa]], 48.0% in the [[Americas]], 11.0% in [[Asia]], 20.9% in [[Europe]], and 0.8% in [[Oceania]].<ref name="AnnuarioPontificio"/>

Catholic ministers include ordained clergy, [[lay ecclesial ministers]], [[Missionary|missionaries]], and [[Catechesis|catechists]]. Also as of the end of 2021, there were 462,388 ordained clergy, including 5,340 bishops, 407,872 priests (diocesan and religious), and 49,176 deacons (permanent).<ref name="AnnuarioPontificio"/> Non-ordained ministers included 3,157,568 catechists, 367,679 lay missionaries, and 39,951 [[lay ecclesial ministers]].<ref name="Catholic Church Statistics 2015">{{cite web |url=http://www.fides.org/en/stats |title=News – Agenzia Fides |website=www.fides.org |access-date=12 September 2016 |archive-date=21 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221120838/http://www.fides.org/en/stats |url-status=live }}</ref>

Catholics who have committed to religious or consecrated life instead of marriage or single celibacy, as a state of life or relational vocation, include 54,559 male religious and 705,529 women religious. These are not ordained, nor generally considered ministers unless also engaged in one of the lay minister categories above.<ref name="Pontifical Yearbook 2016">{{cite web |url=http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/03/05/160305b.html |title=Pontifical Yearbook 2016 and the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2014: dynamics of a Church in transformation |website=press.vatican.va |access-date=12 September 2016 |archive-date=3 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103174010/https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/03/05/160305b.html |url-status=live }}</ref>