If optimism has spread in the Episcopal Conference due to the deluge of speculation about the Catholic revival which would highlight popular culture’s interest in religion, the bishops would do well to contain their enthusiasm. Beyond Rosalía’s nun habits and the new influencers who preach chastity, the image that the mirror returns to Spain is that of a country that continues to distance itself from God.
Not only is Catholicism decreasing in size, but what it still retains is entwined with rampant spiritualism, a horror to any guardian of dogma. “We have always thought that secularization would decrease the number of Catholics and increase the number of atheists, but the thing is more complex. Everything is full of grey”, says Mar Griera, professor of Sociology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, in a call for caution in the analysis which does not alter the premise: “We cannot speak of a Catholic rebirth. The trend towards secularisation continues”.
Riera participated in the Barometer on religion and beliefs of the Pluralism and Coexistence Foundation, employee of the Ministry of the Presidency, a study not yet published, to which EL PAÍS has had access. With 4,712 interviews online Carried out in March, it is the first survey of a series that aims to become the thermometer of the Spanish religious temperature. The result is there from the first shot: low temperature.
But what about the much talked about return of Catholicism? There isn’t. There are changes in religiosity and spirituality, which include some points – especially among young people – in which there is greater visibility of beliefs, but always in a context of loss of faith. The Spain of the growth of the Catholic retreat of Effetá, which sends more than 25,000 pilgrims to the Jubilee of the Holy Year in Rome, the second largest group after the Italian one, is at the same time a Spain in which Catholicism declines.
Less than half of those interviewed declare themselves believers, 49%. Catholics remain at 46%. Those who believe in “one God”, 37%. Here is a first strange gap: 9 points more for Catholics than for believers in one God. It is part of that gray area that takes up more and more of the canvas. Another gray line: 44% of Catholics are not interested in the sacred.
The most misguided are the young people. Between 18 and 24 years old only 29% declare themselves Catholic. From 25 to 34, 31%. On the other hand, more than half are atheists, agnostic or indifferent, compared to 33% of those over 65. The two youngest groups are also those who pray the least and go to mass… On the other hand, they are the ones who believe the most that there is “some kind of spiritual reality or life force”. It’s not that they don’t believe in anything, it’s that they believe in their own way. Especially 18-24 year olds, the least Catholic group, but the one that believes most in the existence of the soul (59%). This is how contradictory the religious map of Spain is in 2025 AD.
Young people and pets
Ages 18 to 24 is also the period in which most people believe in life after death (40%), “energies” (45%), astrology (29%) and clairvoyance (23%). Consistently, it is the group that consults tarot cards the most, 23%, 12 points more than those who read the Bible or other religious texts. “Young people want to believe that something transcendent exists,” but “they are reluctant to express it” like their elders, summarizes researcher Christopher Gasson, who published a study that also finds greater youth spirituality in the United Kingdom. The Spanish barometer worries for the future of the Church. The two groups up to 34 years of age are the least interested in training their children in the faith.
The study predicts a cruel table with those who desire a society anchored in faith. Of the eight fundamental aspects of life that pollsters ask about, religion is the one that gives “a lot” or “fairly” meaning to the existence of the smallest part of the population, behind not only family, friends or work, which is not surprising, but also pets. Once again, young people stand out: up to 24 years of age, only 15% declare that religion gives meaning to their lives. In the case of dogs and kittens, the percentage rises to 55%.
The barometer “absolutely” coincides with the studies of Jörg Stolz, director of the Institute of Social Sciences of Religion at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), who rejects the thesis of the return of religion to the West, a “good story” for journalists, but which, in his opinion, is “wrong”. But wasn’t Rosalía, by dressing as a nun, trying to get in touch with a society in which Catholicism is growing? For Stolz it is the opposite: the “unauthorized” use of sacred symbols in pop culture is “an indication of the decline of religious power”. Sociologist Griera points in a similar direction, noting a misunderstanding about Rosalía’s Catholic winks. His monastic clothing, he explains, is explained by “a deregulation of religious symbolism” which is precisely the product of “an increasingly secularized society” in which the religious is restricted while a “spiritual search” that is difficult to classify with old patterns grows.
green shoots
This greater “spiritual search” is one of the elements of what Griera calls the “transformation” of the religious map, which generates “strange effects”. And some of these “strange effects” translate into occasional sprouts of religiosity, and in particular of Catholicism. For example? Within the general tendency to distance themselves from God, there are groups that “intensify religious practice” as a defensive reaction when they perceive themselves as a “minority”, he explains.
This can be seen in the CIS monthly barometers, which also ask questions about religiosity. Both by comparing the latest data with pre-pandemic data – which is usually presented as an alleged religious catalyst – and with those of last year, the percentage of Catholics is decreasing, even among the younger generations. But at the same time, the percentage of those who, being Catholic or believers of another religion, never or almost never go to religious ceremonies is decreasing. This decrease is mainly due to the most secularized group, that of young people aged 18 to 24, especially their men, who when they are religious go to mass more than before. In the frieze between religion and politics, the voters of the PP and Vox who declare themselves Catholic have fallen since 2019, and those of the PSOE and Sumar have fallen even further. Naturally, mass participation among Santiago Abascal’s voters is growing.
All these numbers coincide with the “paradox” noted by the French sociologist Céline Béraud, who observed that while the indicators of Catholicism decrease, the public presence of Catholicism grows. Mar Griera agrees, for whom secularization is compatible with greater “visibility” of a minority sector of Catholicism that lives its faith more externally. “There are fewer people who believe, but among those who believe, more explicit forms of practice are increasing,” explains sociologist Víctor Albert-Blanco, co-author of a recent study that finds a decline in the religiosity of young Catalans. Even the land of Santa Rosalía is not immune to the retreat of faith.
