Catholic Church - Archdiocese of Berlin: A good 11,000 Catholics resigned
In the Archdiocese of Berlin, a total of 11,131 people left the Catholic Church in the past year, which is slightly less than in 2022. In Berlin itself, the number of departures was 9,123, in Brandenburg it was 1,692, and in Vorpommern it was 316. These figures come from the annual statistics published by the Archdiocese on Thursday. At the end of 2023, the Archdiocese counted 361,983 church members.
The Catholic Church has been losing members nationwide for years due to scandals involving sexual misconduct by priests. According to the German Bishops' Conference, this trend has slowed down nationwide. This is also reflected in the Archdiocese of Berlin. In 2022, there were still 13,007 departures here, which is 1,876 more than in the previous year.
Further key figures: In the diocese, 1,610 people were baptized as Catholics and became new church members, including 130 adults and young people over 14 years old. In the diocese, 1,952 children went to their first communion, 268 couples got married, and 1,762 people were buried. The number of parishes in the diocese decreased from 65 in 2022 to 51 in the previous year, while the number of active priests remained at 96. There are still 188 religious sisters in the diocese. The church tax revenue decreased from 166.9 to 162.6 million Euros.
Apart from the city of Berlin, the larger part of Brandenburg and Vorpommern belong to the Archdiocese of Berlin. A smaller part of Brandenburg belongs to the Diocese of Görlitz or the Diocese of Magdeburg. Mecklenburg belongs to the Archdiocese of Hamburg.
In the Archdiocese of Berlin, which covers areas such as Brandenburg and Western Pomerania, the Catholic Church reported a decrease in departures from the faith in 2023 compared to the previous year. Specifically, Brandenburg saw 1,692 members leave, while Berlin saw a significantly higher number with 9,123 departures. Contrastingly, the Catholic Church in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, under a different archdiocese, reported a different trend. In this region, known for including the city of Lübeck, the Catholic Church experienced an increase in membership due to baptisms and other religious events.
