You might be forgiven for assuming that Italy, the cradle of Catholicism and Western Christianity more broadly, is a Christian nation. After all, a cursory glance at statistics (and the country’s recent conservative voting record) suggests that it is — nearly 80 percent of Italians still identify as Catholic. That number is much larger than in Germany (25 percent), or even neighboring France (about 60 percent).
Unfortunately, you would be wrong in making that assumption. Over the last few years, the Catholic Church has seen a frightening decline in church attendance, but Italians aren’t abandoning religion. They’re turning to older forms of paganism. Neopagan cults like the Communitas Populi Romani have seen a surge in popularity — and, of course, they’re starting to make their presence known.
On Feb. 10, a group of these neo-pagans gathered in sweatshirts and jeans near the ancient Forum to unironically offer sacrifices to the ancient Roman gods of Juno, Jupiter, and Apollo. Because the ancient Romans didn’t have religious texts, groups like the Communitas tend to rely on historical accounts of sacrifices for their religious practices (leaving out, of course, the animal and human sacrifices).
Italians — many of whom stop practicing their faith shortly after they receive confirmation as a teenager — aren’t simply embracing agnosticism. They’re replacing belief in one God with that in a whole pantheon of gods. (READ MORE from Aubrey Gulick: It’s Not the 1970s. But the Catholic Archdiocese of LA Wants It to Be.)
The Communitas boasts just 20 members, according to the Religion News Service, but neopaganism in Italy at large has been growing at an astonishing rate. In 2017, a study by the Center for Studies on New Religions (based in Turin) discovered that the number of neopagans in Italy has grown by 143 percent over the last 10 years. The Catholic Herald reported this week that there are over 160,000 “sorcerers” and “witches” in Italy who cater to 3 million Italians every year to create an industry worth 8 billion euros. Some 30,000 Italians reportedly consult in fortune-telling devices daily.
Take, for instance, the Via romana agli dei (“Roman road to the gods”), a “religious movement comprising various neopagan sects declaring themselves to be part of the European Congress of Ethnic Religions (ECER),” as the Catholic Herald explains. The movement claims that paganism was persecuted but survived in rural Italy and among upper-class Italians who practiced clandestinely. They even claim that Dante Alighieri, who invokes pagan themes throughout the quintessentially Christian work Divine Comedy, was trying to keep ancient Roman pagan traditions alive “in a [apparent] syncretism with Christianity.”
The problem has become big enough that the Catholic Church has had to stop ignoring the issue. The Religion News Service reports that Pope Francis warned Roman clergy during a closed-door meeting in January that “Rome is pagan.” As recently as June 2023, Francis told the Catholic faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly Angelus address to reject beliefs in “superstitions, such as magic, tarot cards, horoscopes and other similar things.”
Despite these public statements, a good number of the rapidly dwindling Italian clergy believe that part of the problem has been the Catholic Church’s failure to address the issue head-on. For instance, Lorenzo Murone, a Latinist and researcher in Rome, told the Catholic Herald that the Church hasn’t engaged in “intentional evangelism.” He pointed out that “[t]o this day most professing Roman Catholics hardly know their parish priest’s name, and vice versa.” (READ MORE: Apples and Oranges: Atheists, Agnostics, and Nothings)
Meanwhile, the head of the Diocese of Rome’s department for catechesis, Fr. Andrea Camillini, told the Religion News Service, “Rome is at the same time pagan and the city of the pope: It’s a paradoxical city.” Unfortunately, Camillini seems to have no intention of addressing the issue. “It’s time to give up the delusion … of evangelizing Rome,” he said, “and abandon the idea of making Rome into a Christian city.”
full quote:
“It’s time to give up the delusion of omnipotence, of evangelizing Rome, and abandon the idea of making Rome into a Christian city. It’s no longer our objective and it never was.”
— JD Flynn (@jdflynn) February 22, 2024
Paganism isn’t just a Roman, Italian, or even European problem — it’s quickly becoming a Western problem. In the United States, Americans (most of whom still profess to be Christian) are increasingly turning toward paganism and occult practices.
In the 1990s, scholars ascertained that just 8,000 Americans were practicing paganism. That number grew to 134,000 in 2001, and 1.5 million last year (TikTok, it turns out, is a fantastic place for “evangelists”). The number of Americans who engage in occult practices is much higher; the industry was worth $2.3 billion last year. (READ MORE: We Built Ugly Churches and Still Do Not Attract Young People: How Is This Possible?)
We now live in a post-Christian society — but that doesn’t mean we live in an atheist or even agnostic one. Human nature must believe in something, as it turns out, and if we don’t believe in one God who created heaven and earth, we will revert to worshiping a pantheon of gods and relying on a pack of tarot cards.
