Patrick Comerford
This blog ihas reached a new record and a new grand total with a total of 65 million hits shortly before 10 pm last night (1 November 2026). Last month’s total number of hits was more than 5.4 million by the end of October, and on five oaccasions last month this blog passed the million-reader mark, reaching 64 million readers or hits on 27 October, 63 million four days earlier (23 October), 62 million six days previously (17 October), 61 million six days before that (11 October) and 60 million readers or hits a week earlier (4 October).
The previous month (September 2026) was exceptionally busy on this blog, with a steady, overwhelming rise in viewing and reading figures, passing the million mark on 10 occasions that month alone, and more than 10.4 million hits in all. September was the highest total in any single month since I began blogging, and last month was the third highest.
These viewing and readership figures continue to be overpowering and this blog continues to reach volumes of readers I never expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago.
At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 44 million hits or visitors in 2026 alone. Half of all hits or reader figures have been within little more than six months or so, with 32.5 million hits since mid-April.
I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year, the daily figures have often been overwhelming, with an average of 17,000 to 18,000 last month.
Some curious though random statistics may help to put this latest figure of 65 million into perspective:
The US District Court for the Northern District of California issued a ruling in August ordering the Trump administration to release $65 million in withheld payments to legal service providers contracted to represent unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings in accordance with US law.
When a jury found Donald Trump liable for over $83 million in the E Jean Carroll defamation case in January 2024, about $65 million of that was in punitive damages.
65 million metres is 65,000 km and 65 million square metres is 65,000 sq km. Lithuania, the southernmost, largest and most populous of the three Baltic states, has a land area of 65,000 sq km. The mid-ocean ridge system, the most extensive chain of mountains on Earth, stretches almost 65,000 km, with more than 90 per cent of the mountain range lying underwater, in the deep ocean.
Tourism in the United Kingdom is a major industry and the UK is the world’s seventh biggest tourist destination. The principal tourist destinations are London, Edinburgh, Oxford, Cambridge, York, and Canterbury, and the main attractions include the Palace of Westminster, the London Eye and Edinburgh Castle. VisitBritain estimates there are 65 million day visits centred around events, festivals and exhibitions and in total, they account for 5% of all tourist day visits and a net spend of £3.6 billion.
The Fleadh Cheoil in Belfast from 2 to 9 August generated an estimated £65 million for the local economy.
Ireland is providing €65 million this year to respond to the war in Ukraine, providing humanitarian aid and long-term development for people.
Chinese research institutions cited by the World Council of Churches estimate the Christian population in China at approximately 65 million, making it one of the largest Christian communities in the world.
An estimated 65 million people were uprooted or forced from their homes across Europe during and immediately after World War II, including forced labourers, prisoners of war and displaced civilians.
65 is a 2023 American science fiction film with Adam Driver as an ancient astronaut who crashes on prehistoric Earth filled with dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures and attempts to help a young girl (Ariana Greenblatt) to survive. It’s all set 65 million years ago on the planet Somaris, when space pilot Mills is convinced by his wife to take a two-year space expedition to earn money to treat their ill daughter, Nevine. His spaceship, the Zoic, is damaged in an asteroid storm and crash lands on an alien planet, Earth.
65 million minutes is equal to 123 years, 7 months, and 23 days, which means that if this blog was receiving just one hit a minute, I would need to have started blogging back in March 1903.
I retired from active parish ministry on 31 March 2022. These days, though, on average more than 200 people are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning, or a ‘virtual congregation’ up to 1,400 people each week. As this blog moves beyond 65 million hits, I am truly grateful today to the real readers among those 65 million. In particular, I am thankful for the faithful core group of people who join me in prayer, scripture reading and reflections each day.
Guizhou Theological Training Centre in Guiyang Province, central China … Chinese research institutions and the World Council of Churches estimate there are 65 million Christians in China (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
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