[ebb tide]

But the statistics point to a worrying acceleration since the start of Pope Francis' pontificate, particularly in places where bishops and indeed the Church as a whole pride themselves on their progressivism and their entry into the marvellous synodality.

[ebb tide]

Ping

[No.6]

I definitely sympathise with those who react to the current state of things.

Also, in the course of time I have realized (the hard way) that there is no denomination where the people in in it never disappoint. No one is good except God alone.

I am therefore more concerned with those that lose their faith entirely.

[Beowulf9]

Well, with all this decline of numbers there should be less wars in the world because according to some religion is the major reason for war.

No?

[webheart]

He is obsessed with sex. He should be against deviant sex and premarital sex, but he really wants gay sex to be normalized. I suspect he has some personal experience with gay sex. Hopefully he hasn’t had assaulted any minors but if you are going by the odds it might be a possibility. I hope he finds Jesus in time to repent before he dies.

[GOP_Party_Animal]

English must be the author’s second language; the article is so awkwardly written.

[SaxxonWoods]

Most of the churches around here are Missions now, they don’t have enough attendance to qualify as churches. They should sell off half of them, they all sit on valuable land. The Mission across the street from me looks more like a rest home when you see the attendees. It also has one elderly lady who is the “altar girl” because kids don’t go to church anymore.

The Church needs to find a rebirth or it will be gone in a generation.

[Repealthe17thAmendment]

In December 2021, my wife and I went to Germany to visit our daughter, who has married a German and moved to a small town in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Knowing it was still in the midst of the pandemic, and with greater restrictions in the US, we were not surprised that our attendance at Christmas mass was highly regulated. We had to pre-register, of course. We were required to be socially distant in the pews, even from our own family, and N95 (no cloth) masks were strictly enforced.

On Christmas morning mass, an older woman came to the door and since had not previously registered, was turned away. From Christmas mass!

While this isn't a direct reflection on Francis I and his lack of attention to the needs of the church, it does show how out of balance the German church (and I would assume the rest of Europe) is with the spiritual mission. It has become an extension of government control, and who would want to be a part of that? People of all ages have a spiritual yearning, and many find the structure of the church to be too imposing. Turning into a branch of the government, and removing the spiritual nourishment is so unattractive, only the most faithful want to attend.

Hopefully, the next Pope will focus on the spirituality, and not the secular problems in the world.

[Verginius Rufus]

The European countries where they can quote exact numbers on the decline must be those which make residents declare a religion and be taxed to support the church of their choice. So people may declare they no longer belong to that church to avoid the tax.

I had a summer job in Austria when I was 20 and was asked my religion when I started--but the tax was taken out only if you were 21 or older.

[Antoninus]

The bishops know how to fix the problem. They just refuse to do so.