Spain: Twilight of the Faith

The survey published in June 2020 by the Center for Sociological Investigations reveals more than alarming figures: 61% of Spaniards still declare themselves to be Catholic, but five points less than in April 2020.

As is to be expected, young people, deprived of a point of reference and not having received a proper religious education, are the most affected by secularization and the reigning atheism. Among the 25-34 year-olds, only 36% identify themselves as Catholics, while more than 57%  claim total indifference, if not hostility to the faith of the Church.

Another sign of this wave of general apostasy, the Bishops’ Conference of Spain announced at the same time that in 2019 it had closed no less than 32 monasteries and convents. This is the direct consequence of the collapse in the number of religious: dropping by 1,408 in 2018, and by 1,828 in 2019.

For the Spanish episcopate, will these figures be approached as a challenge and the beginning of a return to the treasures of Tradition? In the absence of a salutary reaction, the fall of Catholicism seems inevitable.