Nearly 80% of Italians say they are Catholic. But few regularly go to church
Nearly 80% of Italians say they are Catholic. But few regularly go to church
In Italy, fewer than 20% of people attend church services at least once a week, often leaving a handful of elderly parishioners in church pews while young families find other ways to occupy their time. (Oct. 5) (AP Video/ Paolo Santalucia)
The faithful attend a ‘Via Crucis’ (Way of the Cross) at the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Friday, July 29, 2023. In Italy, centuries-old churches dot the landscape, sanctuaries and processions draw crowds, and nearly 80% of the population profess themselves Catholic. But to the majority, it’s an affiliation in name and tradition, with little adherence to doctrine or practice. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Carmela Forino, left, with her partner Stefano Tempestilli and children Andrea, 6, third from left, and Sofia, 9, at the San Gabriele Dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso, near Teramo in central Italy, Sunday, June 4, 2023. The two children scribbled petitions to St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata in the vast sanctuary where the young saint is venerated in this central Italian mountain village. Andrea asked for blessings for his family and pets, while Sofia offered thanksgiving for winning an early summer dance competition. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Petitions to St. Gabriele are left in a bowl at St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Carmela Forino and Stefano Tempestilli pose with their children Andrea, second from left, and Sofia, third from left, in a park in Civitella del Tronto, near Teramo in central Italy, Sunday, June 4, 2023. “I practice where I want. Every morning I pray on my own,” Forino said. “One has to believe in something, right? You do what you feel in your heart. You can’t require me to go to Mass on Sundays.” (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The Rev. Giovanni Mandozzi, parish priest in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy poses for portraits Saturday, June 3, 2023. “I tell them, ‘I do Mass in under 40 minutes, you can leave your pasta sauce on the stove, and it won’t even stick to the bottom of the pot.’” (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The Rev. Giovanni Mandozzi celebrates Mass in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Saturday, June 3, 2023. “The sign of the cross isn’t a quick fly-swatting gesture,” he preached in the homily of a vigil Mass with fewer than two dozen elderly gathered in a former butcher shop, after Isola’s parish church was damaged by two earthquakes that devastated the region of Abruzzo since 2009, while the bar next door hummed with young families. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Agostino Tatulli poses with his instrument in Forca di Valle, near Teramo in central Italy, Monday, June 5, 2023. For Tatulli, a way to find meaning is music, including gigs with a marching band for the popular feasts of patron saints. This summer, he participated in two such processions over 48 hours. A weekday morning one was cut short by a rainstorm in the hamlet of Forca di Valle, high on the forested mountain ridge above Isola del Gran Sasso. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Agostino Tatulli, center, plays with his band in Forca di Valle, near Teramo in central Italy, Monday, June 5, 2023. For Tatulli, a way to find meaning is music, including gigs with a marching band for the popular feasts of patron saints. This summer, he participated in two such processions over 48 hours. A weekday morning one was cut short by a rainstorm in the hamlet of Forca di Valle, high on the forested mountain ridge above Isola del Gran Sasso. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
People walk in St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023. In Italy, centuries-old churches dot the landscape, sanctuaries and processions draw crowds, and nearly 80% of the population profess themselves Catholic. But to the majority, it’s an affiliation in name and tradition, with little adherence to doctrine or practice. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Federico Ferri poses for a portrait in Forca di Valle, near Teramo in central Italy, Monday, June 5, 2023. Celebrating the patron saint is still important, said band member Federico Ferri, 28, who works for a local manufacturer of devotional items. He goes often to the nearby sanctuary of St. Gabriele, only occasionally to Mass. “To believe in something abstract is difficult. I’m a Catholic believer in the saints, not in the church,” he added. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Posters, from left, advertising a show of the Orfei Circus, a 30-kilometer (19-mile) nighttime procession to the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary near Teramo in central Italy, and a local religious festival, hang at a bus shelter by the train station in Giulianova, a nearby resort, Saturday, July 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
A man pauses in front of the relics of Francesco Possenti, known as St. Gabriele in the cript of the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023, as he participates in an annual bikers pilgrimage. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Bishop Emeritus of Sanggau, West Borneo, Giulio Mencuccini, 77, blesses the participants of a pilgrimage of bikers to the St. Gabriele dell’ Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023, after celebrating Mass for them. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The esplanade of the St. Gabriele dell’ Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy is filled with motorcycles for an annual bikers pilgrimage, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Antonio Ruggieri poses in his funeal home in Voltarrosto, near Teramo in central Italy, Monday, June 5, 2023. The majority of Italians still want a church funeral, even as most don’t attend Mass regularly. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The Rev. Dario Di Giosia, the rector of the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in Central Italy, poses for a portrait in the crypt with the relics of the saint, Sunday, June 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Branding strategist Federica Nobile poses at the beach of Roseto Degli Abruzzi, near Teramo in central Italy, Saturday, June 3, 2023. Like many young Italians, she was raised in a devout family and now defines herself as “Catholic but not too much.” (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Giuseppe Monticelli poses in his car repair shop in Castelnuovo Vomano, near Teramo in central Italy, Sunday, June 4, 2023. While his wife takes their children to Mass regularly, he prefers to spend his little leisure time walking by the nearby beaches. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
A person walks in St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
A woman arrives at the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary, near Teramo in Central Italy, Sunday, June 4, 2023. According to surveys, about 80% of Italians profess themselves Catholic – but only 19% attend services at least once a week while 31% never do. The Covid pandemic gave another “pruning” to “tepid Catholics,” accelerating a loss in faith that started at least a generation ago, said Franco Garelli, a sociology professor at the University of Turin who’s been studying religiosity in Italy for decades. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The interior of St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy is seen Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
People arrive at St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023. Placard in Italian reads: “Welcome to you, pilgrim! Inside this area please help us to preserve silence and respect the holy place”. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Pietro di Bartolomeo, left, poses with his wife Roberta Cameli and children Beatrice, 10, Ester, 9, Luca, 7, Carmen, 5, and Noemi, 3, at the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Saturday, June 3, 2023. Pietro di Bartolomeo was bullied when he was a teen because of his family’s strong faith, and he “saw God as a loser.” Now a 45-year-old father of five, he runs a Bible group for a dozen teens in Teramo, trying to keep them connected to their faith after confirmation. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Roberta Cameli, left, and Beatrice, 10, watch as Carmen, 5, and Luca, 7, run at the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Saturday, June 3, 2023. Her husband Pietro di Bartolomeo was bullied when he was a teen because of his family’s strong faith, and he “saw God as a loser.” Now a 45-year-old father of five, he runs a Bible group for a dozen teens in Teramo, trying to keep them connected to their faith after confirmation. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
In Italy, fewer than 20% of people attend church services at least once a week, often leaving a handful of elderly parishioners in church pews while young families find other ways to occupy their time. (Oct. 5) (AP Video/ Paolo Santalucia)
The faithful attend a ‘Via Crucis’ (Way of the Cross) at the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Friday, July 29, 2023. In Italy, centuries-old churches dot the landscape, sanctuaries and processions draw crowds, and nearly 80% of the population profess themselves Catholic. But to the majority, it’s an affiliation in name and tradition, with little adherence to doctrine or practice. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The faithful attend a ‘Via Crucis’ (Way of the Cross) at the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Friday, July 29, 2023. In Italy, centuries-old churches dot the landscape, sanctuaries and processions draw crowds, and nearly 80% of the population profess themselves Catholic. But to the majority, it’s an affiliation in name and tradition, with little adherence to doctrine or practice. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Carmela Forino, left, with her partner Stefano Tempestilli and children Andrea, 6, third from left, and Sofia, 9, at the San Gabriele Dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso, near Teramo in central Italy, Sunday, June 4, 2023. The two children scribbled petitions to St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata in the vast sanctuary where the young saint is venerated in this central Italian mountain village. Andrea asked for blessings for his family and pets, while Sofia offered thanksgiving for winning an early summer dance competition. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Carmela Forino, left, with her partner Stefano Tempestilli and children Andrea, 6, third from left, and Sofia, 9, at the San Gabriele Dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso, near Teramo in central Italy, Sunday, June 4, 2023. The two children scribbled petitions to St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata in the vast sanctuary where the young saint is venerated in this central Italian mountain village. Andrea asked for blessings for his family and pets, while Sofia offered thanksgiving for winning an early summer dance competition. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Petitions to St. Gabriele are left in a bowl at St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Carmela Forino and Stefano Tempestilli pose with their children Andrea, second from left, and Sofia, third from left, in a park in Civitella del Tronto, near Teramo in central Italy, Sunday, June 4, 2023. “I practice where I want. Every morning I pray on my own,” Forino said. “One has to believe in something, right? You do what you feel in your heart. You can’t require me to go to Mass on Sundays.” (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Carmela Forino and Stefano Tempestilli pose with their children Andrea, second from left, and Sofia, third from left, in a park in Civitella del Tronto, near Teramo in central Italy, Sunday, June 4, 2023. “I practice where I want. Every morning I pray on my own,” Forino said. “One has to believe in something, right? You do what you feel in your heart. You can’t require me to go to Mass on Sundays.” (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The Rev. Giovanni Mandozzi, parish priest in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy poses for portraits Saturday, June 3, 2023. “I tell them, ‘I do Mass in under 40 minutes, you can leave your pasta sauce on the stove, and it won’t even stick to the bottom of the pot.’” (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The Rev. Giovanni Mandozzi, parish priest in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy poses for portraits Saturday, June 3, 2023. “I tell them, ‘I do Mass in under 40 minutes, you can leave your pasta sauce on the stove, and it won’t even stick to the bottom of the pot.’” (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The Rev. Giovanni Mandozzi celebrates Mass in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Saturday, June 3, 2023. “The sign of the cross isn’t a quick fly-swatting gesture,” he preached in the homily of a vigil Mass with fewer than two dozen elderly gathered in a former butcher shop, after Isola’s parish church was damaged by two earthquakes that devastated the region of Abruzzo since 2009, while the bar next door hummed with young families. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The Rev. Giovanni Mandozzi celebrates Mass in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Saturday, June 3, 2023. “The sign of the cross isn’t a quick fly-swatting gesture,” he preached in the homily of a vigil Mass with fewer than two dozen elderly gathered in a former butcher shop, after Isola’s parish church was damaged by two earthquakes that devastated the region of Abruzzo since 2009, while the bar next door hummed with young families. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Agostino Tatulli poses with his instrument in Forca di Valle, near Teramo in central Italy, Monday, June 5, 2023. For Tatulli, a way to find meaning is music, including gigs with a marching band for the popular feasts of patron saints. This summer, he participated in two such processions over 48 hours. A weekday morning one was cut short by a rainstorm in the hamlet of Forca di Valle, high on the forested mountain ridge above Isola del Gran Sasso. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Agostino Tatulli poses with his instrument in Forca di Valle, near Teramo in central Italy, Monday, June 5, 2023. For Tatulli, a way to find meaning is music, including gigs with a marching band for the popular feasts of patron saints. This summer, he participated in two such processions over 48 hours. A weekday morning one was cut short by a rainstorm in the hamlet of Forca di Valle, high on the forested mountain ridge above Isola del Gran Sasso. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Agostino Tatulli, center, plays with his band in Forca di Valle, near Teramo in central Italy, Monday, June 5, 2023. For Tatulli, a way to find meaning is music, including gigs with a marching band for the popular feasts of patron saints. This summer, he participated in two such processions over 48 hours. A weekday morning one was cut short by a rainstorm in the hamlet of Forca di Valle, high on the forested mountain ridge above Isola del Gran Sasso. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Agostino Tatulli, center, plays with his band in Forca di Valle, near Teramo in central Italy, Monday, June 5, 2023. For Tatulli, a way to find meaning is music, including gigs with a marching band for the popular feasts of patron saints. This summer, he participated in two such processions over 48 hours. A weekday morning one was cut short by a rainstorm in the hamlet of Forca di Valle, high on the forested mountain ridge above Isola del Gran Sasso. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
People walk in St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023. In Italy, centuries-old churches dot the landscape, sanctuaries and processions draw crowds, and nearly 80% of the population profess themselves Catholic. But to the majority, it’s an affiliation in name and tradition, with little adherence to doctrine or practice. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
People walk in St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023. In Italy, centuries-old churches dot the landscape, sanctuaries and processions draw crowds, and nearly 80% of the population profess themselves Catholic. But to the majority, it’s an affiliation in name and tradition, with little adherence to doctrine or practice. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Federico Ferri poses for a portrait in Forca di Valle, near Teramo in central Italy, Monday, June 5, 2023. Celebrating the patron saint is still important, said band member Federico Ferri, 28, who works for a local manufacturer of devotional items. He goes often to the nearby sanctuary of St. Gabriele, only occasionally to Mass. “To believe in something abstract is difficult. I’m a Catholic believer in the saints, not in the church,” he added. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Federico Ferri poses for a portrait in Forca di Valle, near Teramo in central Italy, Monday, June 5, 2023. Celebrating the patron saint is still important, said band member Federico Ferri, 28, who works for a local manufacturer of devotional items. He goes often to the nearby sanctuary of St. Gabriele, only occasionally to Mass. “To believe in something abstract is difficult. I’m a Catholic believer in the saints, not in the church,” he added. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Posters, from left, advertising a show of the Orfei Circus, a 30-kilometer (19-mile) nighttime procession to the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary near Teramo in central Italy, and a local religious festival, hang at a bus shelter by the train station in Giulianova, a nearby resort, Saturday, July 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Posters, from left, advertising a show of the Orfei Circus, a 30-kilometer (19-mile) nighttime procession to the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary near Teramo in central Italy, and a local religious festival, hang at a bus shelter by the train station in Giulianova, a nearby resort, Saturday, July 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
A man pauses in front of the relics of Francesco Possenti, known as St. Gabriele in the cript of the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023, as he participates in an annual bikers pilgrimage. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
A man pauses in front of the relics of Francesco Possenti, known as St. Gabriele in the cript of the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023, as he participates in an annual bikers pilgrimage. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Bishop Emeritus of Sanggau, West Borneo, Giulio Mencuccini, 77, blesses the participants of a pilgrimage of bikers to the St. Gabriele dell’ Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023, after celebrating Mass for them. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Bishop Emeritus of Sanggau, West Borneo, Giulio Mencuccini, 77, blesses the participants of a pilgrimage of bikers to the St. Gabriele dell’ Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023, after celebrating Mass for them. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The esplanade of the St. Gabriele dell’ Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy is filled with motorcycles for an annual bikers pilgrimage, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The esplanade of the St. Gabriele dell’ Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy is filled with motorcycles for an annual bikers pilgrimage, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Antonio Ruggieri poses in his funeal home in Voltarrosto, near Teramo in central Italy, Monday, June 5, 2023. The majority of Italians still want a church funeral, even as most don’t attend Mass regularly. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Antonio Ruggieri poses in his funeal home in Voltarrosto, near Teramo in central Italy, Monday, June 5, 2023. The majority of Italians still want a church funeral, even as most don’t attend Mass regularly. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The Rev. Dario Di Giosia, the rector of the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in Central Italy, poses for a portrait in the crypt with the relics of the saint, Sunday, June 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The Rev. Dario Di Giosia, the rector of the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in Central Italy, poses for a portrait in the crypt with the relics of the saint, Sunday, June 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Branding strategist Federica Nobile poses at the beach of Roseto Degli Abruzzi, near Teramo in central Italy, Saturday, June 3, 2023. Like many young Italians, she was raised in a devout family and now defines herself as “Catholic but not too much.” (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Branding strategist Federica Nobile poses at the beach of Roseto Degli Abruzzi, near Teramo in central Italy, Saturday, June 3, 2023. Like many young Italians, she was raised in a devout family and now defines herself as “Catholic but not too much.” (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Giuseppe Monticelli poses in his car repair shop in Castelnuovo Vomano, near Teramo in central Italy, Sunday, June 4, 2023. While his wife takes their children to Mass regularly, he prefers to spend his little leisure time walking by the nearby beaches. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Giuseppe Monticelli poses in his car repair shop in Castelnuovo Vomano, near Teramo in central Italy, Sunday, June 4, 2023. While his wife takes their children to Mass regularly, he prefers to spend his little leisure time walking by the nearby beaches. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
A person walks in St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
A woman arrives at the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary, near Teramo in Central Italy, Sunday, June 4, 2023. According to surveys, about 80% of Italians profess themselves Catholic – but only 19% attend services at least once a week while 31% never do. The Covid pandemic gave another “pruning” to “tepid Catholics,” accelerating a loss in faith that started at least a generation ago, said Franco Garelli, a sociology professor at the University of Turin who’s been studying religiosity in Italy for decades. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
A woman arrives at the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary, near Teramo in Central Italy, Sunday, June 4, 2023. According to surveys, about 80% of Italians profess themselves Catholic – but only 19% attend services at least once a week while 31% never do. The Covid pandemic gave another “pruning” to “tepid Catholics,” accelerating a loss in faith that started at least a generation ago, said Franco Garelli, a sociology professor at the University of Turin who’s been studying religiosity in Italy for decades. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
The interior of St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy is seen Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
People arrive at St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023. Placard in Italian reads: “Welcome to you, pilgrim! Inside this area please help us to preserve silence and respect the holy place”. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
People arrive at St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Sunday, June 18, 2023. Placard in Italian reads: “Welcome to you, pilgrim! Inside this area please help us to preserve silence and respect the holy place”. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Pietro di Bartolomeo, left, poses with his wife Roberta Cameli and children Beatrice, 10, Ester, 9, Luca, 7, Carmen, 5, and Noemi, 3, at the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Saturday, June 3, 2023. Pietro di Bartolomeo was bullied when he was a teen because of his family’s strong faith, and he “saw God as a loser.” Now a 45-year-old father of five, he runs a Bible group for a dozen teens in Teramo, trying to keep them connected to their faith after confirmation. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Pietro di Bartolomeo, left, poses with his wife Roberta Cameli and children Beatrice, 10, Ester, 9, Luca, 7, Carmen, 5, and Noemi, 3, at the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Saturday, June 3, 2023. Pietro di Bartolomeo was bullied when he was a teen because of his family’s strong faith, and he “saw God as a loser.” Now a 45-year-old father of five, he runs a Bible group for a dozen teens in Teramo, trying to keep them connected to their faith after confirmation. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Roberta Cameli, left, and Beatrice, 10, watch as Carmen, 5, and Luca, 7, run at the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Saturday, June 3, 2023. Her husband Pietro di Bartolomeo was bullied when he was a teen because of his family’s strong faith, and he “saw God as a loser.” Now a 45-year-old father of five, he runs a Bible group for a dozen teens in Teramo, trying to keep them connected to their faith after confirmation. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Roberta Cameli, left, and Beatrice, 10, watch as Carmen, 5, and Luca, 7, run at the St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata sanctuary in Isola del Gran Sasso near Teramo in central Italy Saturday, June 3, 2023. Her husband Pietro di Bartolomeo was bullied when he was a teen because of his family’s strong faith, and he “saw God as a loser.” Now a 45-year-old father of five, he runs a Bible group for a dozen teens in Teramo, trying to keep them connected to their faith after confirmation. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
ISOLA DEL GRAN SASSO, Italy (AP) — Two children scribbled petitions to St. Gabriele dell’Addolorata in the vast sanctuary where the young saint is venerated in this central Italian mountain village. Andrea, 6, asked for blessings for his family and pets. Sofia, 9, gave thanks for winning a dance competition.
Their parents bring them here often, as their father’s own family did, and consider themselves better Catholics than many. The mother, Carmela Forino, even says a prayer for forgiveness when she hears someone utter a common blasphemy on the sanctuary esplanade.
But they rarely go to Mass and don’t receive Communion because they are not married, thus shunning two sacraments the Catholic Church considers foundational.
“I practice where I want. Every morning I pray on my own,” Forino said in the sanctuary room filled with votive offerings, from baby bibs to sports jerseys, left by 2 million annual visitors to San Gabriele. “One has to believe in something, right? You do what you feel in your heart. You can’t require me to go to Mass on Sundays.”
Elsewhere in deeply secular Western Europe, the “nones” — those rejecting organized religion — are growing fast. In Italy, long considered the cradle of the Catholic faith, most people 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 to be Catholic. But the Italian statistics agency, ISTAT, says only 19% attend services at least weekly while 31% never attend.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a disengagement with the Catholic faith that started at least a generation ago, said Franco Garelli, a University of Turin sociology professor who’s been studying religiosity in Italy for decades.
“‘I don’t have time, I don’t feel like it’ — there isn’t a real reason. That’s what’s scary,” said the Rev. Giovanni Mandozzi, parish priest in the sanctuary’s village, Isola. “I tell them, ‘I do Mass in under 40 minutes, you can leave your pasta sauce on the stove, and it won’t even stick to the bottom of the pot.’”
“The sign of the cross isn’t a quick fly-swatting gesture,” he later preached in Mass. Fewer than two dozen elderly parishioners gathered in a former butcher shop, because Isola’s church was damaged by two earthquakes that have devastated the region of Abruzzo since 2009.
At the same time, the bar next door hummed with young families.
“Everything has changed,” said bar owner Natascia Di Stefano, the mother of two teens. “Sunday used to be church with your family. Now youths don’t even want to hear about it, like an ancient thing that’s useless.”
Nearby, several close friends in their 20s enjoyed drinks outside another bar facing a medieval chapel.
They described growing up attending Mass and catechism, only to stop in their early teens after being confirmed. That’s when Catholics, usually baptized as infants, commit to witness their faith through the gifts of the Holy Spirit — but for many, it has instead become the last rite they feel obligated by family tradition to partake in.
“It would have become just a routine,” said Agostino Tatulli, 24, a college and music conservatory student. “I’d say I’m spiritual. I don’t know if God exists.”
From his childhood serving as an altar boy, he misses “the sense of community that formed on Sunday mornings, with the old lady you’d never see otherwise.” Tatulli still finds some of that in gigs with a marching band for the popular feasts of patron saints.
This summer, he participated in two such processions over 48 hours. One of them, in the hamlet of Forca di Valle on the ridge above Isola, was a much smaller affair than local retiree Domenico Verzilli remembered from his childhood. Back then, bells tolled at 5 a.m. to start the festivities, and the church — now closed from earthquake damage — was full of large families.
But celebrating saints is still important, said fellow band member Federico Ferri, 28, who works for a local manufacturer of devotional items.
“I’m a Catholic believer in the saints, not in the church,” he added before the celebrating priest — who also runs the sanctuary’s youth ministry — called out to Ferri and others to join him on a tractor ride.
Ferri rarely goes to Mass, but has been attending more often the San Gabriele sanctuary after two motorcycle accidents.
Hundreds of bikers go for an annual blessing, as do thousands of teens for the early spring “blessing of the pens” used to take final exams — a tradition that felt “more superstitious than religious” to former pilgrim Michela Vignola.
Raised in the nearby seaside village of Pineto, Vignola, 36, regularly attended church until her confirmation.
“It’s taken for granted that you’re a believer, but you don’t participate. It’s not like I believed that much anyway,” she said in her hairdressing salon, next to a restaurant called “The Lost Sheep.” “Now I don’t even think about it.”
She coifs a lot of bridal parties, most still headed to church. Catholic wedding ceremonies remain the choice of about 60% of Italians marrying for the first time. The sacrament is just a bit less popular than church funerals, favored by 70% of Italians, according to Garelli’s research.
In the village of Voltarrosto, fifth-generation funeral home director Antonio Ruggieri has added wake rooms for non-Christian religions and is building a “neutral” one with no religious symbols. But virtually every funeral he arranges involves a faith element.
“It’s a sort of redemption, even if you barely believe in it,” he said.
For many priests, locally and high in the Italian Catholic Church hierarchy, that attitude means a societal point of no return might have been reached. How to respond is a major challenge for clergy; they’re already struggling with a significant drop in vocations that leaves many with barely the time to celebrate Masses in multiple villages under their care.
“The whole system revolved around the church, and today that’s no longer the case,” said the Rev. Dario Di Giosia, the rector of San Gabriele.
Those who participate actively, especially the faithful belonging to growing lay movements, do so now out of a deliberate choice and not because the church, and its youth programs, are the only game in town as they once were.
Such believers should be focused on as if they were the last of the species on Noah’s Ark, joked the Rev. Bernardino Giordano, vicar general of the pontifical delegation to Loreto, another popular sanctuary.
In a previous assignment in northern Italy, he dealt with the other extreme — those who asked his diocese to be “sbattezzati,” or de-baptized, which really meant expunged from the parish baptism record since a sacrament like baptism can’t be undone. While only a few people each year made this request, they’re emblematic of a rising disenchantment with organized religion. Among Italians, 15% say they are religiously unaffiliated, according to Pew Research Center.
The majority remain in the gray area in the middle, what Giordano calls the “I belong but I don’t believe” crowd. Strategies to draw some back include an emphasis on social work, volunteerism, even charismatic events like World Youth Day.
“It’s very reductionist to have as the only measure those who practice (the faith). The Holy Spirit is at work everywhere, it doesn’t belong only to Catholics,” said Archbishop Erio Castellucci, vice president of the Italian bishops’ conference. “What’s holding is not so much popular devotion, but the seeds of the Gospel that many people live even without practicing.”
Such an approach might appeal to Federica Nobile, 33, who defines herself as “Catholic but not too much.” Raised by a devout family, she sought to build some distance from their faith to exorcise “the absurd fear of hell” she grew up with.
“I tried to get above the concept of good vs. evil. Looking for nuances allows me to live a lot better,” said the branding strategist and fiction author who vacations in Roseto degli Abruzzi, a seaside village near San Gabriele. “Christianity I don’t think has done this to help us feel good about ourselves.”
Teachers of optional religion classes in public schools see young people’s ambivalence about religion from close-range.
In the hilltop hamlet of Cermignano, the 15 fifth-graders had just celebrated their First Communion. Only a few raised their hands when asked if they attended church regularly — but all joined in a raucous rendition of the hymn to the patron saint, San Antonio Abate, after one pulled an accordion from under his desk and started playing.
In the provincial capital of Teramo, nobody has questioned the crucifix displayed prominently in the K-8 classroom where Marco Palareti teaches religion, and only a handful of students who follow other faiths opted out of his class.
But in a class exercise asking middle schoolers to rank values, family and freedom came first – and faith dead last, said Palareti, who has taught religion for 36 years.
“Kids’ attitude has changed, because in earlier times almost all of them had a life in the parish, while today many don’t go or go only for the sacraments” of First Communion and confirmation, Palareti added.
It’s an attitude that Pietro di Bartolomeo remembers well. When he was a teen bullied because of his family’s strong faith, he “saw God as a loser.” Now a 45-year-old father of five, he runs a Bible group for teens in Teramo, trying to keep them connected to their faith after confirmation.
He believes the church needs to evangelize more — or it’s doomed to irrelevance.
“The old ladies sooner or later will go to the Creator, and that’s where the cycle stops,” he said.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.