Religious practice in Spain is in steep decline. Over the past half-century, the number of believers has plummeted.

In Spain, there is a clear decline in religious practices and vocations to the priesthood, according to the report "Demography of the Catholic Church at the Threshold of the Third Millennium" prepared by the Spanish Center for Studies, Training and Social Analysis (CEFAS).

“The Catholic Church in Spain is facing a sharp decline in vocations, religious practice and sacraments, while it plays a vital role in education, social welfare and culture,” the report concluded.

In recent decades, the number of Catholics in Spain has declined significantly. According to data from the Center for Sociological Research (CIS) from April of this year, 55.5% of Spaniards now identify as Catholic, but only 18.7% are practicing Catholics. Over the past half-century, the number of Catholics has declined by approximately 40 percentage points.

According to a report discussed by Spanish media on Tuesday, currently only 18% of marriages are religious. Civil marriages first outnumbered religious marriages in 2008, and the study's authors attribute this rapid pace of change, among other things, to the mass influx of non-Catholic people to Spain.

The number of baptized children is also falling: while a quarter of a century ago, 72% of all newborns received the sacrament, in 2023 over 152,000 were baptized, or 47.6%. Slightly over 35% of children received First Holy Communion in 2023, which is over 10 percentage points less than in 2017.

Spain also faces a shortage of priests, and the number of new vocations to the priesthood is declining. According to data, there were nearly 15,300 active clergy in 2023, 40 percent fewer than in 1971. The average age of priests has also increased significantly.

In the 2023-24 academic year, only 143 seminarians were accepted and 79 new priests were ordained nationwide. In 1965, there were over 8,000 major seminarians; today, there are only 950, according to a report by the Catalan daily La Vanguardia.

In another article, the newspaper reported that due to a lack of vocations, the seminary in Barcelona, which has been operating since the end of the 16th century, will close its gates and 28 seminarians who were preparing for the priesthood there will be transferred.

Despite the decline in religious practice and vocations in Spain, the Catholic Church still plays an important social role, including in charitable and educational activities, according to the report. More than 1.5 million students attend 2,500 Catholic schools, and 148,000 students attend 17 Catholic universities.

From Madrid Marcin Furdyna (PAP)

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