~75% of Italians identify as Catholic, and ~50% Spainards. For both countries, ~15-20% attend church with any regularity. With the pope passing away, I am trying to judge how important the pope feels in cultural terms. Feel free to comment with whatever comes to mind, but if you want some more details about the types of things I am looking for:

  • When the Pope visits your country (or even your city), do people genuinely care? For example, I once saw a video of Italians packing streets to catch a glimpse of the Pope’s motorcade. Is this enthusiasm common, or reserved for rare occasions?
  • How much does the Pope dominate local news cycles? Do politicians or cultural leaders invoke his words, or is his influence more symbolic?
  • Are there stark contrasts between urban and rural attitudes? Old and young?
  • Even if you’re not religious, does the Pope’s presence (or statements) ever ripple into your daily life?


6 comments

  1. The UK is predominantly Protestant. however, a massive chunk is atheist. This, coupled with rising irreligiousness(I think the most recent figures place church attendance at 1.1%), means that nobody really cares about religion or the Pope beyond “Oh, the Pope died? That’s unfortunate.”

  2. Around 20% of the Dutch are Catholic. But I guess the majority of those only count as a statistic. I think few people care about the pope. Most of the ideas of the church are kind of backwards. There are catholic organizations and I guess for the religious people the pope is more significant.

  3. Germans cared a bit about the pope when he was German.
    one of the best known headlines ever, in our biggest newspaper, when Ratzinger became pope
    “WIR SIND PAPST” 

  4. Well, with his last visit in Belgium and the conservative/reactionary comments he made on abortion and gender here, he provoked a new wave of de-christening, debaptizing, many left the church.

  5. Well he was spanish speaking so in Spain we felt him as one of our own

    He had some ideas that are supported for both the left and right: we should help the poor people and don’t just focus on politics

    He was a good pope

  6. As of the 2021 census more than 80% of Portuguese identified as catholic, but as in many other places actual church attendance is much lower, and more reflective of cultural inercia than anything else.

    Having said that, despite the separation of Church and State the RCC still has quite a few exemptions, benefits, and our elites are quite willing to cozy up to it.

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