Latin Patriarchate: Number of Christians in the Holy Land

 At the end of February 2010, Father William Shomali, Chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem published a statistical survey of the number of Christians in the Holy Land (Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Cyprus – the four countries that make up the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem).

According to the survey:

In Israel: There are 130 000 Christians of whom 27 500 are Roman Catholics (Latins), including about 500 Hebrew speaking Catholics. These numbers do not include about 40 000 Russian speaking Christians, about 50 000 Catholic foreign workers (Filipinos, Indians, Sri Lankans, Latin Americans and East Europeans) and about 5000 Catholic refugees (Sudanese, Lebanese).

In the Palestinian Territories (Gaza and the West Bank including East Jerusalem): There are 54 000 Christians of whom 18 000 are Roman Catholics (Latins).

In Jordan: There are 200 000 Christians of whom 50 000 are Roman Catholics (Latins). This number does not include about 35 000 Catholic foreign workers and thousands of Catholic Iraqi refugees.

In Cyprus: The majority of the population is Greek Orthodox (770 000). The Roman Catholics (Latins) number about 13 000 and there are about 8 000 Maronites in Cyprus too.

Read the survey on the LPJ site in French