In Rome the Catholic Message Falls Flat on its Face


In recorded history, Rome was Pagan until the relatively recent invasion of the Catholic Church. From what I'm reading, the Pagan roots run deep in Rome and the Catholic Church is not very popular.

Catholic participation in Italy is in freefall. It went from 36% in 2012 to 19% in 2022. The percentage of people who poll "never practice" religion is at a record high of 36%. Someone reported that in a closed door meeting this past January Pope Francis said, "Rome is Pagan." The link is about ex Catholics that now enjoy Pagan rituals. 

Whenever I see coverage of a Pope talking from the balcony in the Vatican there are always big crowds below. My impression has been these were mostly local admirers from nearby in Rome. After reading these numbers I have come to think those who stand to hear a Pope are mostly tourists and most of them are from the gullible U.S.

Does anyone else think it peculiar that at the mother lode of Catholic propaganda, where "the truth" originates, the folks next door think it's not worth their time or money? Maybe they even smirk or roll their eyes. 

When I first started blogging a few critics said others should disregard my atheism because it had already been recognized in the Bible as nothing. With noses in the air they referred to Jude 1:8 and 2 Peter 3:3 that say there will scoffers, we don't need to worry about these few. The Bible does not explain about a mass exodus of believers who become scoffers. Maybe the eye rolls should be about those who cannot see the truth, those with hardened hearts toward nonbelief. 

Looking at history as a non historian, it makes sense that Italy is not Christian. Humans had lived in Europe for some 200,000 years before Christianity arrived. They got along just fine without it. So, Christianity arrived recently. It is a religion with stories about tiny places far from Europe and cultures with little in common. Looking at Christianity now, it is not a good fit.

My guess is the Vatican is a good tourist attraction for the City of Rome like Elvis' Graceland is for Memphis. It's a novelty. 

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