World Catholic population growing

Oct. 21 (FIDES/CWNews.com) - The world's Catholic population increased by over 15 million in 2003 (the last year for which full statistics are available), accordino to figures compiled by the Fides news service. The number of Catholics grew significantly on every continent but Europe, where it fell by 214,000.
[Entire Story]

The fact that the world's catholic population is growing is good news -- the gospel of life and the Roe effect are increasing our numbers. Catholics are evangelizing and take the Word of God into the market place and both conversions and reversions are occuring.

However, the plight of our European brothers and sisters saddens me. I was once told that Pope John Paul II saw the Americas as the future of Catholicism, but I don't understand how Europe got into the shape they are in today. Many of our greatest saints are from France, Spain, and Italy. For years, I thought I would love to travel to the many shrines and apparition sites in Europe so as to attain the special graces that so many Europeans have easy access to -- surely Lourdes would be the perfect spot for both physical and spiritual healing.

This article from George Weigel is interesting, but somehow I still feel like I am missing a historical or philisophical explanation of how this happened. Can anyone recommend a book on this topic?
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