This is a sophisticated argument for the notion of Global Catholicism, heretofore a somewhat nebulous conglomeration of discrete attributes proposed by various authors—even, to some extent, the pair who assembled the present study (e.g., Froehle and Gautier, Global Catholicism, 2003; Faggioli, The Liminal Papacy of Pope Francis: Moving Toward Global Catholicism, 2020). Combining their respective analysis in practical theology, sociology of religion, ecclesiology, and church history, the authors present as clear and convincing a proposition as has been seen in the last two decades. It is not, however, a gatherum omnium from the social sciences or theology, or a hodge podge of descriptive history, but a carefully planned, data-driven account of the state of the Church and the prospects for understanding it in the future.

The book begins with global population trends for roughly the last 350 years, in order to explain the Catholic demographic around the world. “A globally extensive reality flows from a metropole, (6)” the authors contend. No continent passes without some analysis and comparisons are often made between data drawn from traditional “Catholic countries” of yesteryear (think France and Italy) to Catholic populations whose rise will not abate even in the next half century (think the Philippines). As the authors note, “over the half-century from 1970 to 2020, the proportion of Catholics in the Euro-Atlantic dropped by 20 percentage points and Catholics in Africa and Asia increased about the same” (31). The figures are all the more stark when considering that religious missionaries in places like Africa began a dramatic decline in 1970 (47), even as the Catholic population increased, often by exponential sums. Such mutations have implications for ecclesiology, such as the manner and theology of reception—a context-dependent, cultural-linguistic enterprise. Shifts in the religious landscape of nations, regions, or entire continents are reflected not only in baptized members, but in the physical infrastructure that accompanies their numbers and influence, such as parishes, clinics, schools, and charitable organizations.

In large measure, the global statistics are culled from the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae (and mainly from the 2020 edition), an annual generated by the Holy See’s Secretariate of State. Both authors are explicit in their respective distillations of statistical and historical data, though each has read and helped to edit the other, making the chapters less a discrete contribution by one writer or the other, but a conversation. For this book we get the benefit of two experts in their fields. However, in asserting itself into the arena of Global Catholic Studies, it follows upon the work of a growing number of academics. For many years, the proposition that there is a distinct global Catholic identity has been ripening, as can be seen in the earlier texts of Ian Linden (Global Diversity and Change Since Vatican II, 2009) or Richard Gaillardetz (Ecclesiology for a Global Church, 2008, 2023).

How data will get used is a perennial challenge between the particular church and Church universal. Recent large-scale disaffiliation from the Catholic Church in Germany, accelerated by redesign of the national religious tax laws, was nearly impossible to plan for but its impact on the nation’s relationship to the Church as well as to Europe and the wider world that relies on German largesse, is all in the offing. Additionally, the move toward secularization crosses between peoples and epochs. The decline in overall global religiosity (including among Protestant groups), typified by a rise in the “Nones,” stand in some contrast to rising conversion rates in the United Kingdom (64) or the now entrenched appeals to liberation theology found throughout the global south. Thus, there are no predictive absolutes. Yet relations between and among certain locations are crucial for understanding the Church in itself and in extenso.
The authors make excellent use of ecclesial data to help sharpen and drive important research questions:

- What does the Catholic engagement with various waves of globalization
processes suggest for Global Catholicism?
- How has the relationship between Rome and various local churches been
negotiated over time?
- How has the relationship between Catholics and local Church leadership
shifted around the world?
- What links may be observed between theological developments, ecclesial
practices, and sociopolitical action?

These questions help also to define or clarify how global Catholicism might be considered. “Global Catholicism is not an historical or sociological study, nor an entirely ecclesiological or missiological one. It has the character of an emerging discipline, informed by practical theology for its intradisciplinary engagement of both theology and the social sciences, including history.” (13) It promises to “bring theological method and methodology as well as a spirituality of discernment to the typically pragmatic and descriptive approach common within the field of World Christianity. The Catholic focus on inculturation since the Second Vatican Council—and evident well before—can benefit in turn from the pragmatic cultural communication approach of World Christianity.” (15) The authors note, however, that the study of global Catholicism is not the same as the study of World Christianity, whose scholars have developed their own distinct methods and parameters for their field.

One of the unique aspects of this book is the more speculative (and creative) chapters 6 and 7, which lay out a methodology that can lead to a robust research agenda. “Global Catholicism integrates a range of disciplines,” the authors maintain, “including theology, philosophy, social science, and history. As such, Global Catholicism as a field of study is more intradisciplinary than interdisciplinary, well beyond a merely multidisciplinary approach. Its theological voice is practical, missiological, and pneumatological, grounded in an ever more adequate account of experience reflecting Biblical revelation.” (212)

The authors propose what they term the “Circle Method” which “reflects common movements in bridge theology and synodality.” (218) It is a cluster of forces, pushing and pulling, impressing and depressing, each with a set of “animating questions.” (219-220) It engages the somewhat disparate work of Paul Tillich, David Tracy, and Rebecca Chopp. For Faggioli and Froehle, “synodality is a methodology.” (221) In terms of the value of their proposed research method for the study of a continuously developing “cosmopolitan church,” the ability of the researcher to carve out an adequate and fruitful program must center on “critical topics” based in “specific ecclesial contexts” and prioritize the everyday lived experience of those caught in that context. Only then can fresh insights be found in comparison to other global contexts and categories. “The study of Global Catholicism is not about universalizing and projecting perspectives already acquired and established at some national or continental level but actual dialogue.” (227) This raises a critical point. While there is significant engagement with the secondary literature over the meaning of their understanding of global Catholicism and its import, I would have thought a deeper and more direct encounter with John McGreevey’s recent works would be a compelling addition. For example, it would be important for a book on global Catholicism to wrestle more with the claim that global history is not global Catholicism, but that global Catholicism is global history.

Faggioli and Froehle offer a lexicon of select terms to help guide the reader, though it is somewhat jejune given the audience that will take up this book. More helpful is a second appendix for the source material for Catholic statistics and the concluding appendix of country-by-country tables. A fulsome bibliography and serviceable index round out the volume—the first in Brill’s Studies in Global Catholicism series. It should be a standard reference tool for any library with a Catholic studies collection.