CNA Staff, Sep 4, 2020 / 05:00 am
A cardinal has suggested that the coronavirus pandemic may have accelerated the secularization of Europe by 10 years.
In an interview with L'Osservatore Romano Sept. 2, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich said he believed that the number of Catholics going to church would decrease as a result of COVID-19.
Asked whether he thought the Church in Europe would emerge stronger or weaker from the pandemic, he said: "I think about my country: we will be reduced in number. Because all those who no longer came to Mass, because they came only for cultural reasons, these 'cultural Catholics,' left and right, no longer come. They have seen that life is very comfortable. They can live very well without having to come to church. Even First Communions, the catechism for children, all this will decrease in number, I am almost certain."
"But it's not a complaint on my part. We would have had this process even without a pandemic. Perhaps it would have taken us 10 years longer."