Angelus News | January 12, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 1

WORLD
■ Camino
de Santiago
draws record
number of
pilgrims
Pilgrims walk the Camino de Santiago
near Burgos, Spain, last summer. | OSV
NEWS/FELIX ORDONEZ, REUTERS
More people are
walking the famed
Camino de Santiago
than ever before,
according to
statistics released
by the official
pilgrims office.
Some 446,035 pilgrims completed the historic pilgrimage, known as the
“Way of St. James,” which leads travelers through Spain to the traditional
burial place of the apostle St. James. Nearly 200,000 of those pilgrims
were from Spain, with the U.S. coming in second at 32,063.
Once pilgrims complete their route — usually by foot (93%) but also
by bike or horse — they stop at the cathedral’s pilgrim office, where
they receive an official document, known as a compostela, proving they
completed the Way. The office also collects and publishes demographic
information from each pilgrim. Almost a quarter of last year’s pilgrims
cited no religious reason for making the pilgrimage, and less than half
cited their faith as their primary reason for the journey.
■ Nigeria: Nearly 200
Christians killed in Christmas
attacks
More than 200 Christians were killed in
attacks on more than 80 villages in the Nigerian
state of Plateau in the days before and
after Christmas.
Jihadist Islamic militants belonging to the
semi-nomadic Fulani tribe are believed to be
behind the murders. Bodies were still being
discovered the week of Jan. 1-8, declared a
week of mourning by the local government.
Nigeria has seen a recent increase in the
persecution of Christians, including a massacre
on Pentecost 2022 that left 50 Christians
dead. Christian leaders have criticized
the country’s government for inaction that
enables continuing violence. In remarks to
media, Bishop Matthew Kulah of Sokoto
called the attackers “sons of Satan.”
“We have cried enough tears,” wrote Kulah,
whose diocese is in the affected area. “We
may pretend that we are not at war, but truly,
a war is being waged against the Nigerian
state and its people.”
■ Is it too late to fix the damage
of China’s one-child policy?
Fewer than 10 million babies were born in China
in 2022, down from 16 million a decade prior.
And despite efforts by the Chinese government to
urge women to have more children, the country’s
population continues toward a potential demographic
collapse.
Since the 2015 overturn of the country’s onechild
policy, officials have pushed for a baby boom
that could counteract current projections, which
would see the country’s population from current
levels of 1.4 billion to half a billion by 2100.
A Communist Party campaign for a “birth-friendly
culture” continues to urge women to have more
children as the fertility rate has dropped to 1.09,
well below the 2.1 needed for a stable population.
“Having had one child, I think I’ve done my
duty,” Feng Chenchen, a mother of a 3-year-old
girl, told the Wall Street Journal. She tells relatives
urging her to have a second child that it would be
too expensive. “I can have another kid as long as
you give me 300,000 yuan,” she said.
Marriage itself is also in decline, with 6.8 million
couples registering marriages in 2022, only about
half the marriages reported in 2013.
The children of Bethlehem — Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for
the Service of Charity, is pictured with children living in a religious sisters-run orphanage Dec.
22, 2023, in Bethlehem. The Polish cardinal was making a charity visit to the Holy Land on
behalf of Pope Francis amid the Israel-Hamas war. | COURTESY DICASTERY FOR THE SERVICE
OF CHARITY
4 • ANGELUS • January 12, 2024