VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- The worldwide crisis of clerical vocations has ended, according to the prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy.

    Speaking to journalists on March 30, as he briefed the press on the Pope's annual Holy Thursday letter to priests, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos also reported that there are now 109,828 seminarians preparing for the priesthood around the world-- a slight increase over the 108,517 in 1997, and an enormous increase from the 60,142 in 1975.

    The cardinal also observed that today's seminarians are somewhat older than their counterparts of a generation ago. Many have completed undergraduate education, and quite a few have gained some experience in professional life, before entering the seminary.

    There were 404,626 priests serving the Catholic Church in 1999. Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos noted that some priests have returned to their ministry after having abandoned the priesthood. And the number of defections from priestly life is falling; the cardinal pointed out that in 1975 there were 3,314 men who left the priesthood; in 997 there were 1,006.

    The cardinal also mentioned that on May 18-- the Pope's 80th birthday-- the Vatican will observe the Jubilee for Priests. That celebration will be preceded by a three-day period of preparation, during which visiting priests are encouraged to visit the four major basilicas of Rome, and follow the Way of the Cross on May 16 in the Circus Maximus.