User talk:Martin C.

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[edit] Annuario Pontificio

I am sorry for seeming so pernickety, but would you please indicate on what page of the Annuario Pontificio the world total of reported Catholics is given. I thought that this information has to be sought in the Statistical Yearbook of the Church, which publishes the information about the situation on 31 December of the year X (which is collected in the year X+1) only in the middle of the year X+2. I don't know where to find that information in the Annuario Pontificio. Lima 09:27, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your understanding and patience. I think that the figure you refer to must have been given in a press statement issued in connection with the presentation to the Pope of the first copy of the 2007 Annuario Pontificio, but not in the 2007 Annuario itself (a copy of which has now reached me). I could search for a site that explicitly gives that statement, but I would then have to search also for a reliable site that gives the world population for the same year. For that reason, i.e. mostly out of laziness, I prefer to wait a few months for the publication (Statistical Yearbook of the Church) that will give together the number of Catholics and the total world population in 2005. Lima 04:34, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Again thanks. I mentioned the total world population as a firm basis for the proportion mentioned in the text. But you are right. I prefer not to mention in the article the exact figure for the world population, because that figure, even in the Statistical Yearbook, is based on the United Nations estimate for 30 June of the year in question, while the number of reported Catholics is that on 31 December, so that they are not exactly comparable.

I must add that the same holds for the statement on the 2005 situation (obviously, they haven't yet got all the reports about 31 December 2006) put out on the occasion of the presentation of the 2007 Annuario. Lima 10:48, 5 March 2007 (UTC)