A survey by Il Timone magazine on the practice of religion in the country of the popes rekindles warnings about rampant secularism.
Newsroom (26/07/2023 18:58, Gaudium Press) The data that continues to come in from Europe on the practice of faith is not encouraging. Il Giornale published a study commissioned by the magazine Il Timone, pointing out that in the country of the Popes, 37% of the population declare themselves “non-believers”, and that only 13.8% of the population go to churches to attend Mass regularly. These data lead journalist Roberto Vivaldelli to claim that Italy is already a post-Christian country.
The study highlights that Eucharists are attended by few young people and many elderly people.
Believers” – those who attend Mass at least once a month and go to confession at least once a year – make up 33% of the population. In contrast, 32% do not know the meaning of the Eucharist.
The data on practitioners are also a concern
Among those who consider themselves believers: only 6 out of 10 know what confession is; 66% do not know what the expression “resurrection of the flesh” means, referring to the resurrection of bodies at the end of time; 20% think that sin is “a simple evil done to others”, abstracting God from the offense. There is also evidence among believers of thinking far from the morality of the Church on issues such as abortion, so-called homosexual marriage, although there is still a majority opposition to surrogacy and the legalization of drugs.
Among “believers”, one in five say they pray daily, 96% do so occasionally; and 7 in 10 of those who regularly attend the Eucharist believe in the real presence of Satan.
These data confirm the declines recorded in surveys in previous years and lead many to wonder how to address this evident secularization in a society marked by Catholicism.
Indeed, this balance requires an examination of conscience by a Church – which still retains many channels of communication with society – and that begins with the education of young people.
Some are already saying that there is a symbiotic process between the secularization of society and the secularization of the Church, and even the secularization of the clergy. And that the beginning of any solution starts with re-evangelization within the home.
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Compiled by Dominic Joseph
