The German Church Has Lost Four Million Faithful in 10 Years

The first figure that catches the eye is the number of departures from the Church. According to preliminary data from the DBK, 321,611 people officially left the Church in 2024. It is true that this figure is down compared to the previous three years (359,338 in 2021, 522,821 in 2022, and 402,694 in 2023). However, it remains well above 300,000.

If we add the number of deaths estimated at over 212,000 according to the report, the total exceeds 533,000, or half a million. To compensate for these losses, the number of entries (1,839) and the number of reinstatements (4,743) are minimal. While there have been 116,222 baptisms, these are steadily declining (131,245 in 2023, 155,173 in 2022).

This explains why the number of Catholics has fallen below the 20 million mark. In 10 years, the German Church has lost 4 million faithful: there were 23.94 million Catholics in 2014, and only 19.77 in 2024 (27.3% of the country's population). The decline was very significant between 2016 and 2021, and has been significant since 2022, following a slowdown during the pandemic.

Sacramental Practice

Sunday Mass attendance is up very slightly after the significant losses during the Covid years: 6.6% of the faithful regularly attend Sunday Mass, compared to 6.2% in 2023. Attendance is higher in the east of the country, with dioceses such as Görlitz (14.4%) and regions such as Saxony (12.2%), but Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate barely reach 4 or 5%.

In addition to the baptisms already mentioned, statistics recorded 152,280 First Communions (151,835 in 2023), 105,041 Confirmations were conferred (105,942 in 2023), and 22,504 marriages were celebrated during the year (27,565 in 2023). While the initial figures are stable, the latter demonstrates a growing disinterest in marriage.

But the ten-year comparison is much more pessimistic: between 2014 and 2024, baptisms decreased by 29.6%, First Communions by 19.9%, and Confirmations by 30.0%. The decline in Catholic marriages was even more pronounced, with a drop of 48.9%. In other words, half as many marriages are celebrated as ten years ago.

By Region

The states most affected by abandonments were Bavaria (87,184), North Rhine-Westphalia (86,946), and Baden-Württemberg (50,056). In contrast, the lowest figures were recorded in northeastern states such as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, but this is due to the fact that Catholics represent a very small percentage of the population.

Among the dioceses, Cologne leads the departure statistics with nearly 29,000 departures, followed by Munich and Freising (27,475), and Freiburg (25,813).

It is noteworthy that of the nearly 1,900 new members of the Church, more than 1,600 came from Protestant backgrounds, which shows that, despite the massive loss of faithful, interest in Catholicism persists in certain areas, although this may also be due to the fact that there is increasingly less difference between Catholics and Lutherans in Germany.

The Synodal Path focused its efforts on the desire to restore the Church's image after the abuse crisis, but it developed and continued in an atmosphere of disintegration on all levels: the number of faithful and the practice of the sacraments are irrefutable witnesses to this. No matter, it must continue. Until the complete extinction of the German Church?