If speculation about a Catholic revival, evidence of popular culture’s interest in religion, sparks optimism within the bishops’ conference, bishops would be wise to temper their enthusiasm. Beyond the customs and new things of the nuns of Rosalia influencer For those who preach purity, the image of the mirror returning to Spain is the image of a country that continues to distance itself from God.
Not only is Catholicism shrinking in size, but what remains is intertwined with rampant spiritualism, which is frightening to those who defend the doctrine. “It has always been thought that secularization reduces the number of Catholics and increases the number of atheists, but the situation is more complicated. Everything is gray,” said Mar Gurriera, a professor of sociology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. “We cannot talk about a revival of Catholicism. The secularization trend continues.”
Leela participated barometer of religion and beliefs The study, from the Foundation for Pluralism and Coexistence attached to the Office of the President, has not yet been published, but EL PAÍS has access to the results. 4,712 interviews included online The survey, conducted in March, is the first in a series aimed at providing a thermometer of Spain’s religious temperature. Already from the first shot we are getting results: low temperature.
But what about the much talked about Catholic revival? there is no. There are variations in religiosity and spirituality, with faith becoming more visible, especially among young people, but it is always within the framework of a loss of faith. Spain is where the Epheta Catholic Retreat, which sends more than 25,000 pilgrims to the Roman Jubilee, is the second largest group after Italy, but it is also the country where Catholicism has declined.
Less than half (49%) of those surveyed declared themselves religious. Only 46% are Catholic. 37% believe in “one God.” Here is the first strange gap. Catholics score nine points more than those who believe in a single God. It’s part of a gray area that takes up more and more space on the canvas. Another gray line is that 44% of Catholics are not interested in the sacred.
Young people are the most misguided. Only 29% of people between the ages of 18 and 24 declare themselves Catholic. 31% for those aged 25 to 34; However, more than half are atheist, agnostic or uninterested, compared to 33% of those over 65. The two youngest groups are also those who pray the least and don’t go to Mass…but they are also the ones who believe most in the existence of “some spiritual reality or life force.” It’s not that they don’t believe in anything, it’s that they believe in their own way. In particular, 18-24 year olds are the group with the least number of Catholics, but the group that believes in the existence of a soul the most (59%). This is how contradictory the religious map is in post-Christian Spain in 2025.
young people and pets
Ages 18 to 24 are also when most people believe in an afterlife (40%), “energy” (45%), astrology (29%), and clairvoyance (23%). Consistently, the group that most often consults the Tarot is 23%, 12 points more than the group that reads the Bible or other religious texts. “Young people want to believe that something transcendent exists,” but, like their elders, “they are reluctant to express it,” sums up Christopher Gasson, a researcher who has published a study showing a high degree of spirituality among young people in Britain. The Spanish Barometer is concerned about the future of the church. The two groups up to age 34 are the least interested in their children being formed in their faith.
This study includes a cruel table with people who long for a faith-based society. Of the eight basic aspects of life that pollsters ask about, religion is the one that gives “a lot” or “a lot” meaning to the existence of the smallest segment of the population, including not only family, friends, work, but also, perhaps unsurprisingly, pets. Young people are also prominent here. By age 24, only 15% declare that religion gives meaning to their lives. For dogs and kittens, on the other hand, that percentage rises to 55%.
This barometer is “completely” consistent with research by Jorg Stolz, director of the Institute of Religion and Social Sciences at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Stolz rejects the theory of a religious revival in the West, which he says is “a good story” for journalists, but “wrong.” But wasn’t Rosalia trying to connect with a growing Catholic society by dressing as a nun? For Stolz, it’s the opposite: the “unauthorized” use of sacred symbols in pop culture is “a sign of the decline of religious power.” Sociologist Gurriera also pointed in a similar direction, discovering a misconception about Rosalía’s Catholic wink. His monk-like attire is explained by the “deregulation of religious symbols,” a product of an “increasingly secular society,” a phenomenon in which religiosity shrinks while “spiritual quests” that are difficult to categorize in old patterns increase.
green bud
This larger “spiritual quest” is one element of what Gurriera calls the “transformation” of the religious map, which produces a “strange effect.” And some of these “strange effects” translate into occasional green shoots of religiosity, especially Catholicism. for example? He explains that in a general trend of distancing from God, some groups “intensify their religious practices” as a defensive reaction when they perceive themselves as a “minority.”
This is also observed in the CIS monthly barometer, which also asks about religiosity. Comparing the latest data with pre-pandemic data (usually presented as a religious trigger) and with last year’s data, we find that the proportion of Catholics among younger people has also declined. But at the same time, the proportion of people who are Catholic or members of another religion who never or rarely go to religious services decreases. This decline is mainly due to the fact that the most secularized group, young people between the ages of 18 and 24, especially men, become more religious and go to Mass more than before. Caught between religion and politics, PP and Vox voters who declare themselves Catholic have declined since 2019, and PSOE and Sumar voters have declined even more. Of course, the mass attendance of Santiago Abascal voters has increased.
All of these numbers match the “paradox” discovered by French sociologist Céline Bellot. He observed that while Catholic indicators decreased, Catholic public presence increased. Mar Gurriera agrees that secularization is compatible with greater “visibility” of Catholic minority sectors that practice their faith more outwardly. “There are fewer people who believe, but among those who do believe, more explicit practices are increasing,” explains sociologist Victor Alberto Blanco, co-author of a recent study that detected a decline in religiosity among young people in Catalonia. The land of Santa Rosalia is not immune to the decline of faith.
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