Berkley Center

As a Catholic, I always try to make it to Mass on Holy Days of Obligation—unless, that is, I have more pressing obligations such as school, a dentist appointment, a new episode of The Office, a rerun of The Office, or literally anything else. But on Ash Wednesday this week, I was returning to the Villa le Balze—Georgetown’'s Italian outpost perched on a hill overlooking Florence—when I noticed a procession of priests and parishioners entering Fiesole’s Duomo of San Romolo for the 6:00 p.m. evening service. Although I knew that the Mass would be completely in Italian, I was confident that my basic Italian would allow me to pick up some of the sermon (assuming the priest spoke solely about days of the week, numbers, or colors). I was expecting a half empty church, but found it filled to the brim. Part of the reason for the crowd, I believe, was that a bishop presided over the Mass. He entered the church followed by an impressive crowd of over 20 priests and deacons.

I'm used to standing out like a sore thumb here in Italy, but the feeling was particularly pronounced in San Romolo for two major reasons. First, the North Face jacket is a dead giveaway—I may as well drape myself in the American flag or wear Mickey Mouse ears. And second, I was one of about four people there under the age of 30 years old. The congregation tilted heavily toward elderly men and women. The high school and college demographic was significantly underrepresented. After some research, I found that this is emblematic of many Italian congregations. Younger churchgoers have dropped off, and pew space now goes to the older fur-wearing crowd.

Don't fear for Italy's Catholic population just yet. Italy is a country of 57.6 million people and 55.8 million of those (96 percent) are Catholics. Catholicism sprouted up in the first century in Italy and has been burning heretics and incense ever since as Italy's largest religion. The baptism rate is high, but despite the impressive showing at San Romolo, congregations and numbers taking religious orders have been shrinking.

USA Today highlighted the decreased influence of Christianity as early as 2005, reporting that Italy was by no means an exception to the trend. Church attendance in Ireland fell from about 85 percent to 60 percent from 1975 to 2004, and attendance in France, Sweden, and the Netherlands is, in some areas, less than 10 percent.

After the release of these dismal attendance figures in 2005, Pope Benedict XVI pessimistically told Italian priests, “There's no longer evidence for a need of God, even less of Christ…." The so-called traditional churches look like they are dying.”

The trend has continued in the past five years. In a 2007-2008 Gallup Poll, Italian citizens were asked, “Does religion occupy an important place in your life?”" Twenty-six percent of those polled answered “no—”—a relatively modest number compared with 83 percent (no’s) in Sweden, 71 percent in the United Kingdom, and 63 percent in Russia.

The move toward secularity and the separation of church and government are major reasons for Christianity’s declining influence. Another important factor is the continent's growing affluence. For much of their history, Western European nations had a significant number of citizens struggling for survival. With the formation of the EU and Western Europe's relatively recent rise to affluence, most Westerners need no longer struggle for survival, and therefore, feel less of a pull to the Catholic Church—which had long been considered a refuge for sufferers.

There are many effects of Christianity's waning influence in Western Europe. Population is shrinking, what with more women ignoring church edicts and turning to birth control. New progressive laws also indicate Christianity's waning influence. Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Canada have legalized gay marriage, for example.

But the Roman Catholic Church still has considerable pull, especially in Italy. In May 2005, the Vatican encouraged Italians not to vote on a referendum that pledged to make fertility treatments more accessible. Turnout for the vote was less than 50 percent, rendering the referendum invalid.

More recently, Italy's Catholic Church used its clout to jump headfirst into the Berlusconi drama. In September 2009, Italy’s top weekly Catholic publication condemned Berlusconi's scandalous personal life and accused the prime minister of acting like a “prince,” while many Italians suffered from the financial crisis. The Catholic media have not been silent in their criticism of Berlosconi's sexual scandals. The relationship between Berlusconi and the Church is tense. In early September 2009, a newspaper owned by the Berlusconi family attacked the character of Dino Boffo, editor of the Italian Bishops' Conference daily Avvenire, forcing Boffo's resignation.

In sum, Italy's Catholic Church is going through a rough patch. But then again, —some of its previous rough patches include Arianism, the Reformation, Communism, and Dan Brown. Catholicism is resilient, so don't worry too much about the Pope. As long as they keep that crazy lady off him.