Pew: U.S. Christianity Downturn Leveling, but Catholics Suffer ‘Greatest Net Losses’

by Gina Christian and Currents News

(OSV News)  – A multiyear decline in Christianity in the U.S. may have leveled off, according to a new survey by Pew Research Center. However, the Catholic Church, the survey found, is seeing the greatest net losses of believers compared to other religions in the U.S.

The data indicates that for every one person received into the Catholic Church, another 8.4 individuals have left the faith, either altogether or for another worship tradition. This increases the trend Pew found in 2014, when 6.5 Catholics left the faith for every person who entered.

Pew’s new survey also shows just 29% of the nation’s Catholics attend religious services weekly or more often. Altogether four in 10 Catholics attend religious services monthly or more.

In addition, support among U.S. Catholics for legalized abortion, homosexuality and other stances at odds with church teaching has increased over the past decade and a half.

On Feb. 26, Pew Research released the results of its 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study. The RLS polled 36,908 U.S. adults on a range of topics regarding religious belief and practice, as well as issues such as abortion, homosexuality, immigration and the role of government.

The survey was conducted in English and Spanish from July 2023 to March 2024, with participants sharing their thoughts online, via mail or phone.

Researchers noted that a multiyear decline in the number of U.S. adults identifying as Christian – noted in Pew’s 2007 and 2014 RLS reports – has appeared to stabilize “at least temporarily” since 2019.

The rise in those who are religiously unaffiliated, or “nones,” has also leveled off for now, after “rising rapidly for decades,” Pew noted.

However, the new survey “cannot answer definitively” whether that short-term stability will be “permanent,” cautioned Gregory A. Smith, senior associate director of research at Pew.

While he and his team “cannot predict the future,” Smith told OSV News the data “very clearly” shows that “the underlying forces that drove the long-term declines are still very much in evidence.”

“The youngest adults in the population are still far, far less religious than the oldest adults,” Smith said. “We know, furthermore, that the oldest cohort of Americans … will decline as a share of the population as the people in that cohort pass away.”

For the stability Pew has observed to prove permanent, “something would have to change,” Smith explained. “Either today’s young adults would have to become a lot more religious as they get older, or new generations are going to have to come along in the future that are far more religious than today’s young adults.”

The report found that 62% of U.S. adults currently describe themselves as Christian, with the majority (40%) Protestant, 19% Catholic and 3% as Christians from other denominations.

The total number of self-identified U.S. Christians is down from 78% in 2007 and 71% in 2014.

In 2007, 24% of the nation identified as Catholic, which dropped to 21% in 2021.

Over one quarter (29%) of the U.S. population identifies as religiously unaffiliated, with most (19%) describing themselves as religiously “nothing in particular,” 5% as atheist and 6% as agnostic. Another 7% of the U.S. population belongs to religions other than Christianity, with 2% being Jewish, and Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus counting as approximately 1% each.

Yet overall, most Americans (86%) believe people have a soul or spirit, and 83% say they believe in God or a universal spirit. A majority (79%) also hold there is a spiritual reality beyond the natural one, and 70% believe in heaven, hell or both.

Still, less than half (44%) say they pray at least once a day, a figure that has held steady since 2021, and 33% report attending religious services at least once a month.

Pew researchers speculated that “in future years we may see further declines in the religiousness of the American public.” It pointed out that “young adults are far less religious than older adults” and “no recent birth cohort has become more religious as it has aged.”

The “stickiness,” or persistence, of a religious upbringing appears to have declined, while that of a nonreligious upbringing “seems to be rising,” said Pew researchers.

Generally, “younger Americans remain far less religious than older adults,” said Pew, noting that 46% of the survey’s youngest respondents (ages 18-24) identified as Christian, with 27% praying daily and 25% attending religious services at least monthly. In comparison, the survey’s oldest respondents (ages 74 and older) saw 80% identify as Christian, 58% pray daily, and 49% attend religious services at least monthly.

Catholics polled by Pew have also shown an increased acceptance of abortion and homosexuality since 2007.

Among Catholic survey respondents, 59% said abortion should be legal in most or all cases, compared to 48% in both Pew’s 2007 and 2014 surveys. The Catholic Church holds that human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception, and since the first century has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion.

A majority (59%) of religiously affiliated persons in the U.S. say homosexuality should be accepted by society, with 74% of Catholic respondents endorsing that view. The Catholic Church, which teaches that sexual activity can only morally take place in marriage between a man and a woman, also teaches that persons with homosexual inclinations “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.”

Catholics have also “experienced the greatest net losses” due to what Pew researchers called “religious switching,” with 43% of the people raised Catholic no longer identifying as such, “meaning that 12.8% of all U.S. adults are former Catholics,” said the report.

However, Smith said, “It is also important to point out that 1.5% of U.S. adults are converts to Catholicism.”

“That’s millions of people,” he said.

“That means there are more converts to Catholicism in the United States than there are Episcopalians, for example. There are more converts to Catholicism than there are members of congregational churches, and so on,” he added.

“There are lots of people who are joining the Catholic Church,” Smith said. “It’s just that they are far outnumbered by those who say they’ve left the Catholic Church.”

Smith also said that “it’s not necessarily that there’s lots and lots of people switching their religion at any one moment in time.

“These are gradual processes,” he explained. “It takes time to observe them.”

Catholics Around the World Send Well Wishes, Prayers to Pope Francis

By Currents News

For the second night in a row, hundreds gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican where pro-prefect for the Dicastery of Evangelization Cardinal Luis Tagle led the Eternal City in a rosary. 

It’s a prayer for Pope Francis’ recovery that’s being repeated by Catholics around the world, from the Diocese of Brooklyn to the Holy Father’s home country of Argentina. 

Hundreds gathered at Plaza Constitucion in Buenos Aires – where the pope would celebrate an annual Mass condemning global poverty, inequality, and injustice when he was their shepherd – for a special open air Mass praying for his recovery. 

And even in the middle of a war zone the Holy Father is being remembered: Holy Family Parish in Gaza, who Pope Francis has continued to call despite his illness, sent well wishes to the pontiff via video. 

Pulse of the Parish: Eileen Goetzger, St. Mary’s Winfield

By Currents News

Eileen Goetzger, a parishioner at St. Mary’s Winfield Church in Woodside, Queens, often prays the rosary in the peace and quiet of her parish’s perpetual adoration chapel.

But it was only a few years ago that her church decided to keep its newly expanded chapel open for 24 hours, and the change in hours was made possible thanks to volunteers like her. She speaks with Currents News about what her time in the chapel means for her and her church community.

The pastor of St. Mary’s Winfield, Father Christopher O’Connor, also joins Currents News to talk about the parish’s history and how Eileen’s personal experiences and presence in the church have led her to reinvigorate not the adoration chapel, but her relationship with Christ.

Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday 2/25/2025

A relic belonging to St. Jude the Apostle is traveling the country and currently on display in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

While Pope Francis continues receiving treatment at Gemelli Hospital, hundreds plan to gather in St. Peter’s Square to pray for him every night until he recovers.

In this edition of Pulse of the Parish, meet the Queens parishioner who is helping to keep her church’s perpetual adoration chapel going 24/7.

Relic of St. Jude the Apostle Visits the Diocese of Brooklyn

By Katie Vasquez

Catholics in Brooklyn are having moment of prayer and reflection before one of the first followers of Christ.

The relic which comes from one of the original 12 apostles, St .Jude Thaddeus, is a piece of his arm bone brought to the Diocese of Brooklyn by Father Mike Ford of the Dominican Shrine of St. Jude. 

“To allow us to enter more deeply into the graces that we received at our baptism” is one of the the main missions he seeks to fulfill. 

The stop at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Williamsburg is part of a nationwide tour by the Shrine in honor of the 2025 Jubilee.

“As we begin Lent and in this holy year, maybe we need to be touched by one of the apostles in a very special way,” the pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, told Currents News Feb. 25. 

In the pews of Mount Carmel were dozens of stories of faithful hoping to find healing through St Jude. 

It was the first time friends Lois Moore and Lisa Mirando had ever touched a relic. 

“We’ve been struggling a lot. And I just think, you know, you just try to reach out to believe in something and hopefully somebody out there is listening to you,” said Moore who venerated the relic. 

“I’m very spiritual. I love all the saints, and Saint Jude is for the impossible, Which I need right now in my life.” said Mirando. 

Terriann Kava lost her husband Billy suddenly in February 2024.

“He wasn’t sick or anything, and then all of a sudden he was gone,” she explained. 

The last year has been difficult, and she hoped the patron saint of lost causes and desperate situations could help. 

“The holidays were the worst. I never thought I wouldn’t even want the holidays to come, because they were really such great times and fun. But I just couldn’t wait for them to pass,” Kava told Currents News. “It was very hard, just going through it without him not being there.”

Whatever the reason for their prayers, those in the pews of the Williamsburg church are finding hope in the patron saint of lost causes.  

“We want to really emphasize that we need hope in our lives. And we need hope, we receive hope through faith,” said Monsignor Gigantiello.

“I have to stick with him, I have to lean on him. I know he’s going to help me,” said Kava of St. Jude.

And while the piece of the apostle may not be staying in the Diocese of Brooklyn, his influence will stay in their hearts, providing peace wherever it is needed.

TONIGHT AT 7: Relic of St. Jude the Apostle Comes to the Diocese of Brooklyn

By Currents News

You can be closer to Christ by venerating a relic of one of his disciples.

A bone fragment belonging to St. Jude the Apostle is on display right now at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The relic tour is part of the Jubilee Holy Year being celebrated by Catholics around the world.

Catholic News Headlines for Monday 2/24/2025

At Rome’s Gemelli Hospital and around the world, Catholics are joining together to pray for the Holy Father’s full recovery.

After the Trump administration canceled Temporary Protective Status for Haitians who came to the U.S. after a devastating earthquake, Haitian parishioners in Brooklyn are nervous to go to Mass and concerned about their future.

As Ukraine and Russia officially enter a third year of war, faithful in the Diocese of Brooklyn are praying for those suffering from the fighting.

Catholics in the Diocese of Brooklyn Pray Novena for Peace Between Russia and Ukraine

By Currents News

As Ukraine and Russia enter a third year of war, parishioners of Guardian Angels Church in Brooklyn, New York are joining the Knights of Columbus in prayer and solidarity with the 3,000 knights and their families who are living through the danger in Ukraine. 

Their pastor and the coordinator for Russian and Ukrainian immigrants in the Diocese of Brooklyn, Father Sergiy Emanuel, led the prayers in both English and Ukrainian. 

He spoke to Currents News about this grim anniversary. 

More than 150,000 lives have been lost and more than 10 million have been displaced because of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Faithful Unite in St. Peter’s Square Praying for Pope’s Health

By Carol Glatz and Currents News Staff

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A light drizzle finally let up as hundreds of faithful headed to St. Peter’s Square to pray the rosary for Pope Francis on the 11th day of his hospitalization for double pneumonia.

The wet black cobblestones shone from the bright lights illuminating the fountains and the front of the square where Pope Francis normally sits for his Wednesday general audiences. An image of Mater Ecclesiae — Mary, Mother of the Church — adorned with greenery and white and pink flowers took center stage.

About 27 cardinals living in Rome and dozens of members of the Roman Curia sat to the side as Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, knelt before the image, leading a recitation of the rosary Feb. 24 at 9 p.m.

He first greeted those gathered by saying, “For 2,000 years Christians have been praying for the pope when in danger or infirm.”

“Since the Holy Father Francis has been hospitalized at Gemelli hospital, intense prayer has been raised to the Lord by individual faithful and Christian communities around the world,” he said. Starting with this evening, “we also want to join in this prayer publicly here in his home with the recitation of the holy rosary.”

Entrusting the 88-year-old pope “to the powerful intercession of most holy Mary,” the cardinal said, “may she, our caring mother, sustain him in this time of illness and trial, and help him to recover his health soon.”

Among the many Vatican officials was Korean Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, prefect of the Dicastery for Clergy. He told reporters before the event that the moment of prayer was important because “you always pray for those who are not well.”

“The pope belongs to all of us,” he said, adding that even those who could not be in Rome were also praying at the same time. “In Korea, where it is eight hours ahead, they are praying with us.”

Father Antonio Tunecas, a priest from Angola studying in Rome, told Catholic News Service that the prayer service was a way “to be a family of the universal church, united with Pope Francis, united in prayer,” asking God, “in his goodness, to offer good health” to the pope and that “his will be done.”

Brothers Gregory Metz and John Frain, members of the Legionaries of Christ studying in Rome from Atlanta, Georgia, also attended the event.

Brother Metz told The Tablet it was a moment to show their closeness to the pope.

Pope Francis has been important for their growth and formation, Brother Frain said, helping him “get out of that American bubble” and to see things in different ways.

“He’s definitely been an opener of the heart to all people, to dialogue and to new ideas with an attitude of humility,” Brother Metz said. “He’s been our father. Though no father is perfect, he taught me to grow in love of neighbor.”

More than 50 Catholics from Wisconsin were in Rome for their Holy Year pilgrimage and they had been looking forward to seeing the pope at his Feb. 26 general audience, which has been canceled. Father Jordan Berghouse was leading the group from the parishes of St. James, St. Peter and St. Theresa.

“It’s really sad. We were hoping to see him in person,” Theresa Quedroro told the Tablet. “He is peace, love and joy.”

The group has been following their busy itinerary nonetheless and they have been praying the rosary each day wherever they are: “on a bus, in a church, at the hotel” and on other nights in St. Peter’s Square.

Sara Schmitz, Kellen Otte and Aliana Perez were in Rome as part of a study abroad program with the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

They had only been in Rome two weeks, and they said they loved hearing so many languages being spoken among the crowd and being part of such a big event in the heart of the universal church.

“It’s really cool to come all together and to pray for the pope,” Schmitz said.

They did not expect, however, to be interviewed by a TV crew from NBC for a segment that will be seen by 7 million people.

“You don’t want this to be happening,” referring to the pope being ill in the hospital, “but it feels we are here at a very important time. We hope he does better,” Schmitz said.

Dioceses worldwide were also joining in praying the rosary for the pope and everyone facing illness.

Pope Francis has been an inpatient at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14; his doctors diagnosed double pneumonia.

The Italian bishops’ conference has called for increased prayers for the rest of the time the pope remains at the hospital and is coordinating a series of special Masses to involve and unite all the churches in Italy.

The hospital began a series of “spiritual initiatives” at their facilities Feb. 24: the rosary will be recited every afternoon in the courtyard outside the hospital beneath the suite of rooms reserved for the pope on the 10th floor; and Mass preceded by Eucharistic adoration will be held starting at noon each day in the hospital chapel. 

Catholic News Headlines for Friday 2/21/2025

Pope Francis has been in the hospital for a full week and pilgrims in Rome for the Jubilee are missing his presence while they pray for his full recovery from St. Peter’s Square.

It may not be beach weather in New York City, but it’s not stopping one woman in Queens from plunging into the ice cold waters of Rockaway Beach in the name of her health and her faith.

A world-renowned youth choir from the Czech Republic has made its way to the Diocese of Brooklyn – Currents News tunes you into the performance.