Baden-Württemberg: Catholic churches in the southwest are shrinking

Freiburg/Rottenburg (dpa/lsw) - The number of Catholics in Baden-Württemberg is falling. With around 1.71 million believers at the end of 2021, the Rottenburg-Stuttgart diocese was the third largest in Germany after Cologne and Münster. According to information from Monday, the number of people leaving the church was at a record high of 28,212. According to the announcement, 30,043 people left the church in the Archdiocese of Freiburg last year. In 2020 there were 19,665. One of the reasons given is the sometimes sluggish processing of abuse cases. The evangelical churches in the southwest also reported falling numbers in March.