Vatican resumes publishing papal attendance figures suspended by Pope Francis

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The Vatican has published official statistics on attendance at papal events after an eight-year pause ordered by Pope Francis.

On the basis of data released on December 30, 2025, by the Prefecture of the Papal Household, the Holy See has made public again the official statistics on the number of faithful, pilgrims, and visitors attending papal audiences and liturgical celebrations in Vatican City, statistics that had not been published since 2017 following a decision taken during the pontificate of Francis amid controversy over declining attendance figures.

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“Not only our Roman sources, but even a simple viewing of the footage shows the dramatic decline in attendance at Pope Francis’ audiences,” commented the blog Messainlatino.it, which republished the statistics released by the Vatican. “Why were they not published for eight years?”

Messainlatino.it reported the publication of the renewed statistics from the Prefecture of the Papal Household, crediting journalist Luis Badilla for drawing attention to the release after eight years of secrecy. The data concern attendance at events presided over by the Pope, including general and jubilee audiences, special audiences, liturgical celebrations, and the recitation of the Angelus.

As shown in these last years, during the early years of the Francis pontificate, attendance figures declined sharply. In 2013, the year of his election, total attendance at papal events stood at nearly 7 million. In 2014, this number fell to just over 6.6 million. The decline accelerated in subsequent years: in 2015, attendance dropped to 3.2 million, and by 2017 it had fallen further to 2.7 million.

After 2017, no official figures were published for several years. According to Italian outlet Open, the same source cited by Messainlatino.it, the last two years of Francis’s pontificate marked the lowest recorded levels of attendance. For both 2023 and 2024, the number of faithful attending papal events was approximately 1.7 million per year.

“With Pope Benedict, we never saw the striking figures recorded under Francis, but neither did we witness the collapse of these past few years, and in any case the numbers never fell below 2 million,” commented Open on the eve of Pope Leo’s election.

The Prefecture of the Papal Household released more recent figures covering the current period. According to information published by Vatican News and referenced in the report, “attendance figures up to the hospitalisation of Pope Francis on February 14 amounted to more than 250,000 participations.” From May onwards, following the election of Pope Leo XIV, attendance reportedly rose significantly, with figures approaching 3 million faithful.

For the calendar year 2025, the Prefecture of the Papal Household reported a total of 3,176,620 participations at papal audiences and liturgical celebrations in Vatican City. These numbers aggregate attendance across all official events presided over by the Pope and are presented as cumulative participations rather than individual persons.

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The Holy See has traditionally published annual statistical tables detailing attendance at papal events, providing a quantitative overview of participation by the faithful, pilgrims, and tourists. This practice was interrupted under Pope Francis following a media dispute concerning the reliability and interpretation of attendance figures. At that time, public discussion focused on reports of a significant decline in participation at papal audiences and celebrations.

The interruption in publication began after the release of the 2017 data, which already showed a marked reduction compared with earlier years. From that point onward, no official tables were made publicly available, despite continued papal events and regular coverage by Vatican media.

The renewed publication of the statistics in 2025 restores a practice that had been suspended for several years and makes it possible to compare attendance trends across different pontificates using official Vatican data.

Messainlatino.it explicitly noted that the tables had been withheld by decision of Pope Francis and highlighted their reappearance as a significant development in Vatican transparency regarding participation at papal events.