By Nicholas Wylie, Church Militant - A Vatican news agency report is revealing how Africa's Catholic population surge is holding the Church together... According to the latest statistics (updated to December 2021), the number of Catholics in Africa increased by 8,312,000 from the previous year, up to 265,152,000. The Catholic population now accounts for 19.38% of all Africans, up 0.05% from the previous year's recording.