hmmm... Iceland is the exception. But to just put it down to religion is a fallacy. The troublesome parts are all Mediterranean, yet Catholic Croatia is doing well.
North of the alps most countries are doing well, but the big-boy there in terms of population and economy is Germany -- it overwhelms every other country in terms of population. In fact it's population is larger than the rest of Europe-north of the alps minus the UK combined.
Southern Europe has 3 big countries in terms of population: Italy, France and Spain. And Greece has a denser population base than comparably sized countries
no, the reason for the deadbeat may be partly religious, but is mainly due to other reasons -- and different ones in different countries.
And Catholic — truly and very Catholic — Poland is doing best of all.
But do you agree that Protestant countries are generally of different mold as it comes to government and economics? After all Protestantism arose in great part in order to provide an ethical basis for the secular capitalist economics?
Catholics and Orthodox, however, regard government that is not obedient to the Church as an anomaly at best, and sinful generally, since the Middle Ages. So their secular governments are a bunch of scoundrels, as a rule.