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July 24, 2008 10:49:16 PM CDT

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Catholics Now No. 1 in Britain

Posted Dec 23, 07 12:47 PM CST in Arts & Living,  World 

(Newser) – For the first time in 400 years, Catholicism has more adherents than the Church of England in Great Britain, the Sunday Telegraph reports. Immigrants from Eastern Europe and Africa have filled the pews of Catholic churches, while attendance at Anglican Sunday services has dipped 20% since 2000, according to a survey of English churches.

Sunday Mass averaged 861,000 people last year, compared with 852,000 Anglican worshipers. Changing UK demographics have also been a boon to Pentecostal churches, now the nation's third-largest Christian denomination. The Church of England renounced papal authority in 1534 under King Henry VIII after the Vatican refused to annul his marriage to Catharine of Aragon.

Source Daily Telegraph (UK)

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