How Many Catholics Are Still Practicing?

Meanwhile, what about the Catholic flock? Some Catholics are afraid that many may be becoming Catholics in name only, and they have cited the following figures in Italian publications: Attendance at Mass has dropped by more than half in France and Italy in the last 15-20 years. In Italy, where it is estimated that 99 percent of the population is nominally Catholic, less than one third of them attend Mass regularly! Even so, the Italians are better Mass attenders than the French, of whom only 16 percent go each week.

If the feelings of young people are an indication of the future, then Italian Catholics have another reason for concern. Panorama magazine interviewed young Italians from 16 to 24 years of age and found that only 12.6 percent felt that spiritual values were the most important in life. Of the values most in doubt among young people, “Religion and the Church” tied for first place with “the family, the couple, marriage, parents.”

[Graph on page 10]

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DISAPPEARING CLERGY

Since 1881, the population of Italy has doubled, while the number of priests has halved, from 84,834 to 40,866

(Priests per 1,000 Italians)

1881 (2.9)

1977 (0.72)