You can take Italians out of church, but you can’t take church out of Italians...

[Michie]

VALLECORSA, Italy – According to the most recent data from ISTAT, Italy’s national statistics bureau, the share of Italians who go to Mass on a regular basis reached a depressing new low in 2022. Only 18.8 percent now say they attend Mass at least once a week, in contrast with 31 percent who report they never go at all except for special events such as weddings or baptisms.

Twenty years ago, the situation was reversed. At that point, 36.4 percent of Italians said they went to Mass regularly, and only around 16 percent said they never showed up.

While the downward trend has been constant, it was amplified during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to ISTAT, the church has not recovered the additional four percent of regular Mass-goers it lost in 2019-2022 when in-person liturgies were suspended.

Needless to say, these numbers have occasioned no small amount of reaction, ranging from barely disguised glee among anti-clerical and secular commentators to hand-wringing and laments from ecclesiastical sources.

Continued below.

You can take Italians out of church, but not the church out of Italians

To truly experience the ineradicable Catholic character of Italy, you have to get out of the cities and into the countryside, where real life reveals itself.

cruxnow.com

 

[RileyG]

How sad. Prayers for Italy.

St. Catherine of Siena and St. Benedict, pray for all Italians.