Germany’s Catholic Church is in shock following this week’s report on the record number of people leaving it: Altogether 522,821 Catholics left their church in 2022, according to the German Bishops’ Conference. That’s an increase of more than 45% over 2021 and a figure that fits with the mounting criticism of the church’s sluggish reform process, over which many bishops don’t see eye to eye. And there’s no sign that the membership decline is going to slow, let alone reverse.
