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WASHINGTON - According to a new study, there are currently 2.18 billion Christians in more than 200 countries around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 6.9 billion 2010 global population.

The study, conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, found Christians to be so geographically widespread that no single continent or region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.

The Pew study, "Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population," cites that 100 years ago, two-thirds of the world's Christians lived in Europe but today only about a quarter of all Christians live there. More than one-third of Christians reside in the Americas; about a quarter live in sub-Saharan Africa and 13 percent live in Asia and the Pacific.

VATICAN CITY - A select group of young international designers will be submitting innovative mock-ups of what an eco-friendly popemobile should look like.

For the first time, the annual Autostyle Design Competition will have a special category for a popemobile, according to L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. The vehicle design must meet standards for low-emissions, as well as the Vatican's safety and security standards, it said.

Out a pool of about 200 candidates, a commission will choose 12 student finalists who will then have seven to eight months to create a new popemobile design, said Sara Ferraccioli, marketing and communications officer for Berman, the Italian car-parts manufacturer sponsoring the competition.

The latest edition of The Catholic Register looks back on the year that was with a special centre-spread. You can view a high-res PDF of this specially designed collage by clicking here or on the preview image below. 

And don't forget, every front cover of the paper from 2011 is now archived on facebook. You can view a slideshow of all these covers, irregardless of whether you have an account or not, .

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The following is the 2011 Christmas message from Archbishop Richard Smith, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Stars give us a sense of direction and brighten the night. In the Book of Genesis (22:17), they are also a sign of God������Ƶapp blessing. They herald God������Ƶapp promise to Abraham that his and Sarah������Ƶapp descendants will be countless. In the Book of Numbers (24:17a), a star is again a sign and promise of what is to come: “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near — a star shall come out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel.”

TORONTO - Marianne Moroney wants justice on the streets of Toronto — justice that can deliver a simple, cheap, satisfying meal. As executive director of the Toronto Street Food Vendors’ Association, Moroney has been fighting city hall for the rights of Toronto������Ƶapp hot dog stands.

“City councillors have set out purposely to strangle this industry,” Moroney told The Catholic Register.

Moroney is a tenacious and tireless advocate for the mostly poor, mostly immigrant hot dog sellers of the city. It������Ƶapp an endless and thankless task, but she derives her inspiration from a deep instinct for communion and her attachment to the Eucharist.

“Libera nos a malo” is usually translated “Deliver us from evil,” but the Latin word “libera” can also mean liberation.

The fundamental Christian desire to be free comes from the Lord������Ƶapp Prayer. But a Toronto university professor claims it������Ƶapp also a good way for a Catholic to understand Hindu theology.

At the University of St. Michael������Ƶapp College, Reid Locklin has just published Liturgy of Liberation: A Christian Commentary on Shankara������Ƶapp Upadeśasāhasrī. It is an academic look at the small but influential Advaita tradition in Hinduism.

TORONTO - During a trip to Bangladesh, Angela Grace Macri watched with her daughter, Mary Anne, as Bangladeshi mothers taught children the lessons they learned at the Amarok Society������Ƶapp “Angela Women������Ƶapp School.”

It������Ƶapp a school named after Macri, the 2011 Toronto Catholic District School Board Alumni Award winner.

Macri says helping to educate girls through her volunteer work with the non-profit Amarok Society borrows lessons learned about her Catholic faith from her parents and her teachers at Toronto������Ƶapp Loretto Abbey High School.

TORONTO - Christmas has not been banished to churches and pious homes. Commercial Christmas may be everywhere — bigger, brighter  and louder than any tale of how Christ came into the world — but the insanely jovial Santas and blizzard of inane holiday songs on the radio are not the end of the story.

There are Christmas creches in businesses, out on the street, in offices, in all kinds of places around the city.

At Casa Manila in North York the only thing owners Rizalde and Mila Cuachon need to evoke the birth of Jesus is a star — or a couple dozen stars — hanging from the ceiling of their restaurant. The traditional Filipino parol is a lantern made from bamboo and Japanese paper. It evokes the star that led magi to Bethlehem. The Cuachons’ collection of parols joyously declare, “Christ is here.”

Markham, Ont. - When you arrive at the Patton home in Markham, there������Ƶapp no mistaking that Christmas is coming. Not only are visitors greeted by a Nativity scene on the front lawn and a manger scene on an entire side wall, inside the house are more than 900 crèches.

Nativity scenes are a passion for Gwen Patton. She has some 450 of them on the main floor. They’re everywhere — in the living, family and dining rooms, the kitchen and along hallways. There are another 450 or so in the basement, with a few scattered in bedrooms.

Patton knows the story behind each one of them. Asked to name her favourite, she������Ƶapp reluctant.

Mississauga, Ont. - It will be a special Christmas for the family of Dina Al-Sammak and Fawaz Fatohi; their son, David, turns a year old this Christmas season, which marks the family������Ƶapp two-year anniversary in Canada.

Like many Catholic families in the multicultural Greater Toronto Area, the family will be celebrating with Christmas Mass and family get-togethers, integrating some of the cultural traditions of their Iraqi homeland into the festivities.

Before being sponsored as refugees by Mississauga������Ƶapp St. Dominic Catholic Church in 2009, Al-Sammak says attending Christmas Mass and celebrating with family in Baghdad were luxuries they could not participate in because of the post-war violence in Iraq.