The land of Abraham, the Iraq the Pope wants to visitPope's trip to Iraq now has official programIraq: in the eye of the hurricaneThis Friday, March 5, the Pope will undertake a historic trip to Iraq, since it will be the first time that a Pontiff visits the land of Abraham. It is a difficult trip that the Pope has ahead of him, to a country devastated by war and terrorism, where he wants to show closeness to Christians, fraternity with other faiths and support for the reconstruction of the country.
Population and church structure
Iraq has an area of 438,317 km2 and a population of approximately 38 million inhabitants, of whom 590,000 are Catholics, or 1.5 per 100 inhabitants of the country. Iraq is organized into 17 ecclesiastical circumscriptions and has 122 parishes and 12 pastoral centers.
DATO
590 thousandThese are the Catholics in Iraq
In Iraq there are 19 bishops, 113 diocesan priests and 40 religious priests. In addition, it is interesting that the Iraqi Church has 20 permanent deacons. There are 8 non-priest religious and 365 religious sisters. There are also 4 lay missionaries and 632 catechists.
Pastoral care load indicators
Therefore, to serve as an indicator of the pastoral load, there are 3856 Catholics for every priest, and one priest for every 100 people involved in apostolic activities. These numbers show a great need for priestly vocations, which can cover with guarantee the pastoral needs.
DATO
153There are priests in Iraq, and 19 bishops, to serve almost 600,000 Catholics.
In fact, the numbers of seminarians and priestly vocations corroborate this need: in Iraq there are 11 minor seminarians and 32 major seminarians, which means 0.08 major seminarians per 100,000 inhabitants and 5.4 major seminarians per 100,000 Catholics. These are vocations that, among other things, the Pope wishes to promote with his trip.
Educational centers
In the country there are 55 primary and nursery schools run by ecclesiastics or religious, with 5,464 students. Secondary schools, on the other hand, are only 4, with 770 students. There are 9 institutions of higher education and universities, such as the Catholic University of Erbil. Between the nine centers, there are 378 students.
Finally, the Church's Central Statistical Office has also provided some data on charitable and social centers run by the Church. There are 7 hospitals, 6 outpatient clinics, 5 homes for the elderly and handicapped, 10 orphanages, a family clinic and a social re-education center.
