Interesting Stats on Malta

Pope Benedict XVI is going to visit Malta on April 17th and 18th this year. The visit will be to celebrate the 1950th anniversary of the shipwreck of St. Paul. Large crowds of Catholics are expected on the island due to the fact that 94.4% are Catholic! Here are some interesting facts on Malta from the Catholic News Agency.

The Central Office of Statistics of the Church reports that 94.4 percent of the country's 443,000 people are Catholic and that there are 853 religious and diocesan priests in their service.
This, according to the official statistics, means that there is a priest for every 490 Catholics on the island and an average of 10 priests for every place of worship.
In addition to the elevated number of clergy, there are almost 1,150 religious in Malta.
The Church in Malta also has 91 major seminarians, nearly half the number currently studying for the priesthood in Ireland, which has nearly 10 times the population.