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Muslims Outnumber Catholics: Vatican

Islam is world's biggest religion with 1.3B members

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 30, 2008 4:09 PM CDT

(Newser) – Islam has topped Roman Catholicism as the world's biggest religion for the first time, the Vatican said today. About 1.1 billion people are still Catholic, but Muslims have pulled ahead with 1.3 billion members. “For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us,” said a prelate who compiled the Vatican's yearbook of 2008 statistics.

Higher birthrates continue to propel the Muslim population, he said. But he added that if all Christian groups are counted, Christians still exceed Muslims with 2 billion members, or 33% of the population. Yet the Vatican can back up only its own stats; Muslim numbers were tallied by several countries and issued by the United Nations, Reuters reports.

Pope Benedict XVI waves from his pope mobile as he is driven through the crowd at St. Peter's Square for his weekly general audience, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

People under umbrellas, are seen attending mass led by Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, on Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Kashmiri Muslims pray as the head priest displays the holy relic believed to be a hair from the beard of Prophet Mohammad in Srinagar, India, Friday, March 28, 2008. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin)

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Islam • Muslims • religion • Vatican • population • Catholicism • Catholics

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Houses of Worship Adapt to Swine Flu

Synagogues, churches, mosques get ready for H1N1

Benedict Plans to Meet With Muslim Leaders

'Historic' spring summit seeks to mend rift after 2006 controversy

Muslim Population Set to Surge

Will grow at twice the speed of non-Muslims

A Quarter of World Is Muslim

Asia, not Middle East, is center of the world of Islam

Vatican Warms to Wilde

Paper praises writer's 'lucid' analysis of his world

About Us

Site

Newser By Users

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