The number of priests in Germany is at its lowest with only 58 newly ordained men in 2015 for the whole country. This was announced during the German Bishops' Conference that was held in Bonn this August.

According to ChurchMilitant, the number of ordained priests falls short of replacing the 329 priests who died or left the priesthood that same year. The report also noted that the figure has dropped more than 50 percent in just 10 years.

(Wikimedia Commons/Oliver Kurmis) Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Erfurt, Germany

The official website of the German Bishops' Conference reported that the number of Catholics in Germany, currently at 23.8 million, has plummeted from 42.7 percent in 1990 down to 29 percent last year. The report also stated that 181,925 people left Catholicism in 2015 alone.

A statement from the same report attributed the reduction in numbers to "demographic developments in society."

"More Catholics are buried per year than are received through baptism, and secondly, the share is reduced by renunciations of membership," the report said.

Pope Francis noted the drop in numbers for the Sunday Mass as early as Nov. 2015. In his address to the Bishops of Episcopal Conference, he observed that almost all Catholics attended mass on Sundays in the 1960s. "Ever fewer people are receiving the sacraments. The sacrament of penance has almost disappeared. Fewer and fewer Catholics receive Confirmation or contract a Catholic marriage," the Pope said in his address.

In June 2015, Catholic Online reported that European churches are importing priests from Africa and Asia to compensate for the lack of priests in Europe. While priests and church attendance decline in Europe, the Catholic population in Asia, Africa and America are still experiencing growth.

Catholicism in Africa has seen the most growth with a 238 percent increase between 1980 and 2012. In the same period, Catholic population has grown 57 percent in America and 115 percent in Asia. However, in Europe, the figure increased by only 6 percent, according to the Center for Applied Research in Apostolate.