At least 48,365 baptisms were celebrated in churches and Catholic communities in the People’s Republic of China in the year 2018.
The annual reports on the new Catholics baptized provided year by year by the Faith Institute from 2000 onwards seem to have a fluctuating trend, with a growth recorded until 2010, and a significant decline that would have marked the years from 2010 to 2015. The last two years, with the data provided by the Faith institute, which claims nearly 50 thousand new baptisms, indicate a new trend reversal when compared to the declining trend of the five-year period 2010-2015. Furthermore, several observers agree on the decline in priestly and religious vocations in the Catholic Church in China with respect to the eighties and nineties, which had registered an increase in seminarians and novices.
