THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL OF CATHOLICISM IN ITALY

In this post, I continue to present statistics about the condition of the Church on the European Continent.

Thus far, I provided an overview of the Church in Germany, Austria and France.

Now, let us take a look at the state of the Church in Italy (a subject particularly sensitive to me on account of my Italain heritage and the fact that I had the privilege of completing my seminary education at the Pontifical North American College in Rome).

First, it should be said that Italy was always considered to be not only the “seat of Catholicism” but also the vanguard of Christian morality in all of Europe.

Sadly, that is no longer the case.

The Conference of Italian Bishops adopted the findings undertaken by the Patriarch of Venice in 2004-2005 which showed that only 22.7 % of the Catholic population occasionally attended Mass.  Of that number, only 15% attending every Sunday with thosewho attended one to three times a year composing 7.7%. 

While even these meager numbers compare favorably to that of other EU countries, they are likely to decrease further in the coming years. 

 A survey conducted by Professor Paolo Segatti of the University of Milan, published in the magazine “Il Regno,” found that the news is even worse among younger Italians.

Among those born after 1981, Mass attendance, self-identification as Catholic, and adherence to Catholic teaching are “in collapse.” 

Segatti predicted a near future in which Catholicism holds only “minority status in Italy”. 

“The youngest Italians are the ones to whom religious experience is most foreign. They clearly go to church less, believe in God less, pray less, trust the Church less, identify themselves as Catholic less, and say that being Italian does not mean being Catholic.”

Vatican expert and Italian journalist Sandro Magister noted that the loss of faith among young people has strongly affected women: “The collapse is so clear that it also wipes out the differences in religious practice between men and women – the latter of whom tend much more to be practicing – typical of the previous generations. Among the youngest, however, very few of the women go to church... on a par with the men.”

Currently, Italy’s deep Catholic roots can be credited for its having one of the most restrictive laws on in vitro fertilization and embryo research in the western world, as well as having a relatively low abortion rate as doctors retain and exercise the right to refuse to participate in abortion. At the European Union, Italy has frequently been among the voices defending traditional Christian moral and social values. 

But all of this may change in coming decades as the older generation, raised to equate being Italian with Catholicism, die off and younger people more forthrightly reject Catholic teaching along the practice of the Faith.

Clearly, most of the blame for this collapse must be laid on the Bishops and their failure to convey Church doctrine to the next generation, a collapse which has occurred while 94 percent of Italian children continue to be enrolled in Catholic religious instruction in elementary school, and 84 percent of high school students voluntarily take religion classes.  

Evidently, in view of the results, both the teaching of religion in the school and catechesis in the dioceses are not up to the challenge.

In 2005, Cardinal Ruini, then President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference admitted that the “great majority” of Italians have only a “generic adhesion to Catholicism,” and “Those who live their faith deeply are a minority.”

And yet Italian Bishops appear to have done little to address the crisis.

Whether the present generation will be the last who consider themselves culturally Catholic may become a moot issue, however. 

In 2004, the overall fertility rate in Italy hit its lowest at 1.23 children per woman, the second lowest in Europe, a “death spiral” that will lead to drastic reductions in population. 

The future of Catholicism in Italy is bleak, not that the Church will become extinct but its voice will be hushed and ineffectual in enunciating the truths of Scripture and the wisdom and insight of Catholic doctrine.

Europe and the world will be poorer indeed for the loss of what was once a place of great witness to Catholic teaching and devout allegiance to the Church.