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Hello and welcome to more or less on the BBC World Service.

Our aim is to rid the world of its statistical sins and I'm Tim Halfard.

If you're a Roman Catholic and I dare say even if you're not,

you may have noticed that Catholics are about to get a new Pope.

Since Pope Benedict's announcement that he's to retire,

there's been frenzied speculation about who will lead the reported 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide.

But of course as we discovered last week, when checking Manchester United's claim to have

650 million followers, a reported 1.2 billion could mean anything.

We've received this question from a loyal listener.

Well, the listener's loyal to us in any case.

The next leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

How is the number of Catholics made up?

I was born a Catholic, but now I'm not a Catholic.

In the eyes of the Church, I'm lapsed.

But I decided I don't believe.

Am I counted?

I put this question to David Vos, whose professor of population studies

at the University of Essex in the UK.

Well, in principle he is because the Catholic Church counts as members of its community

...