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Nearly 80% of Italians say they are Catholic. But few regularly go to church

In Italy, centuries-old churches dot the landscape, sanctuaries and processions draw crowds, and nearly 80% of the population profess themselves Catholic

Giovanna Dell'orto
Thursday 05 October 2023 00:24 EDT

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Two children scribbled petitions to St. Gabriele dellā€™Addolorata in the sanctuary where the young saint is venerated in this central Italian mountain village. Andrea, 6, asked for blessings for his family and pets, while Sofia, 9, offered thanksgiving for winning a dance competition.

Their parents bring them here often, and consider themselves better Catholics than many ā€” but they rarely if ever go to Mass and donā€™t receive Communion because they are not married, thus shunning two sacraments the Catholic Church considers foundational.

ā€œI practice where I want,ā€ said the mother, Carmela Forino. ā€œOne has to believe in something, right? You do what you feel in your heart. You canā€™t require me to go to Mass on Sundays.ā€

Thatā€™s the paradox in this country long considered the cradle of the Catholic faith. Elsewhere in deeply secular Western Europe, the ā€œnonesā€ ā€” those rejecting organized religion ā€” are growing fast.

In Italy, however, most retain a nominal affiliation, steeped in tradition but with little adherence to doctrine or practice. According to the latest Pew Research Center survey, 78% of Italians profess themselves to be Catholic ā€” but only 19% attend services at least once a week while 31% never do, per data by the Italian statistics agency, ISTAT.

The COVID-19 pandemic pruned even more tepid Catholics, accelerating a loss in faith that started at least a generation ago, said Franco Garelli, a University of Turin sociology professor.

ā€œā€˜I donā€™t have time, I donā€™t feel like itā€™ ā€” there isnā€™t a real reason. Thatā€™s whatā€™s scary,ā€ said the Rev. Giovanni Mandozzi, parish priest in the sanctuaryā€™s village, Isola. ā€œI tell them, ā€˜I do Mass in under 40 minutes, you can leave your pasta sauce on the stove, and it wonā€™t even stick to the bottom of the pot.ā€™ā€

On an early summer Saturday evening, he celebrated Mass with fewer than two dozen elderly parishioners in a former butcher shop, because Isolaā€™s church was damaged by earthquakes that have devastated the region of Abruzzo since 2009.

Nearby, several close friends in their 20s were enjoying drinks and appetizers outside a bar.

They described growing up attending Mass and catechism, only to stop after receiving the sacrament of confirmation ā€” or ā€œgetting rid of it,ā€ as one put it ā€” in their early teens.

ā€œIt would have become just a routine,ā€ said Agostino Tatulli, 24, a college and music conservatory student who sometimes still goes to church with his mother. ā€œIā€™d say Iā€™m spiritual. I donā€™t know if God exists.ā€

From his childhood serving as an altar boy, he misses ā€œthe sense of community that formed on Sunday mornings.ā€ Tatulli still finds some of that in his gigs with a marching band for the popular feasts of patron saints ā€” whose celebrations are crucial to fellow band member Federico Ferri.

ā€œIā€™m a Catholic believer in the saints, not in the church,ā€ Ferri added. He goes only occasionally to Mass, but often to the sanctuary.

Thousands of teens continue to flock each spring to San Gabriele sanctuary for the ā€œblessing of the pensā€ with which high school seniors will take final exams ā€” a tradition that felt lovely but ā€œmore superstitious than religiousā€ to former pilgrim Michela Vignola.

ā€œNow I donā€™t even think about it,ā€ she said, referring to the faith she abandoned in her teens. ā€œItā€™s taken for granted that youā€™re a believer, but you donā€™t participate.ā€

A hairdresser, Vignola coifs a lot of bridal parties, most still headed to church ā€” the choice of about 60% of Italians getting married for the first time, making the sacrament just a bit less popular than a church funeral, favored by 70% of Italians, according to Garelliā€™s research.

In a nearby village, fifth-generation funeral home director Antonio Ruggieri has added wake rooms for followers of non-Christian religions and is building a ā€œneutralā€ one with no religious symbols. But almost all his funerals are in a church.

ā€œItā€™s a sort of redemption, even if you barely believe in it,ā€ he said.

For many priests, that attitude means that a social point of no return might have been reached. How to respond is a major challenge for clergy already struggling with a significant drop in vocations that leaves many with barely the time to celebrate Masses in multiple villages under their care.

Those who participate actively do so now out of a deliberate choice and not because the church, and its social and cultural programs for youth, are the only game in town as they used to be.

Such believers should be focused on as if they were the last of the species on Noahā€™s Ark, joked the Rev. Bernardino Giordano, the vicar general of the pontifical delegation to Loreto, an even more popular sanctuary less than 100 miles (160 km) away.

In a previous assignment in northern Italy, he dealt with the other extreme ā€” the few who asked his diocese to be ā€œsbattezzati,ā€ or de-baptized, which really meant expunged from the parish baptism record since a sacrament like baptism canā€™t be undone.

But the majority remain in a grey area ā€” drawn not by sacraments but by the churchā€™s social justice work.

ā€œItā€™s very reductionist to have as the only measure those who practice (the faith). The Holy Spirit is at work everywhere, it doesnā€™t belong only to Catholics,ā€ said Archbishop Erio Castellucci, the vice president of the Italian bishopsā€™ conference.

That might appeal to Federica Nobile, 33, who defines herself as ā€œCatholic but not too much.ā€ Raised in a very observant family, she felt she needed to exorcise ā€œthe absurd fear of hellā€ she grew up with.

ā€œI tried to get above the concept of good vs. evil. Looking for nuances allows me to live a lot better,ā€ said the branding strategist and fiction author.

In the provincial capital of Teramo, when Marco Palareti asked the middle-school students in his optional religion class to rank values, family and freedom came first ā€” and faith dead last.

ā€œKidsā€™ attitude has changed, because in earlier times almost all of them had a life in the parish, while today many donā€™t go or go only for the sacramentsā€ of First Communion and confirmation, added Palareti, who has taught religion for 36 years.

Itā€™s an attitude that Pietro di Bartolomeo remembers well. When he was a teen bullied because of his familyā€™s strong faith, he ā€œsaw God as a loser.ā€ Now a 45-year-old father of five, he runs a Bible group for teens in Teramo.

He believes the Church needs to evangelize more ā€” or itā€™s doomed to irrelevance.

ā€œThe old ladies sooner or later will go to the Creator, and thatā€™s where the cycle stops,ā€ he said.

ā€”-

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APā€™s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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