Growing up close to the Pope. Italian youth and their religious belonging
Growing up close to the Pope. Italian youth and their religious belonging

Summary/Abstract: The debate on the relationship between young people and religion oscillates between the diffusion of religious individualization and the advancing process of secularization. These processes effect also Italian youth. In a scenario where belonging to Catholicism is still widespread among the population, the paper discusses how young people are developing their religious behaviour and their position on four specific burning issues in several societal and life areas. The first concerns the presence of the crucifix in public spaces. The second deals with a fiscal question and refers to whether or not religious institutions should enjoy benefits of this type from the State. The third point regards the role of religion (and specifically the Catholic religion) in the field of education and training, with specific reference to the teaching of only Catholic religion in all schools, from primary to upper secondary. The last point involves the sphere of communications and concerns the plausibility (desirability?) of interventions in the public debate – aimed at influencing people’s opinions - by religious institutions on socially and politically sensitive questions. All these issues are debated by means of both the most recent survey data available and scientific discussion about the role of religion in the lives of young people. The findings draw a picture in which Italian young people are, on one hand, “children of their time”, sharing with other international peers an independent way of managing their relationship with religion and, on the other, continue to recognize Catholicism as a point of reference of their Italian identity.

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