Spirituality and Catholicism: The Italian Experience

Abstract

At the start of the twenty-first century, Catholicism is still the prevailing belief system of most Italians, but a recent project on Italian religion and spirituality, 5 carried out in 2006, has found that Italians are now more interested in spirituality, that they might describe themselves as 'spiritual, but not religious', and that they privilege the 'god within' rather than the transcendent God of traditional Catholic belief. This article presents the findings of The Italian Religion and Spirituality Project and focuses on what Italians mean by a 'spiritual life'. After an overview of the growing 10 interest in spirituality in the Italian socio-cultural setting, various aspects are illustrated: Italians' self-assessments of religiosity and spirituality; meanings of spirituality; involvement in church and/or in holistic activities; various attitudinal variables, such as preference, beliefs, identification, and willingness to lead a religious and/or a spiritual life. A typology is then elaborated to study the profiles of four groups: (1) neither religious 15 nor-spiritual; (2) religious, but not spiritual; (3) spiritual, but not religious; (4) both spiritual and religious. Two key concepts, intra-religious spirituality and extra-religious spirituality, are introduced to examine some of the ways in which spirituality finds expression in the context of contemporary Catholicism. After describing the different ways Italians understand the term 'spirituality', I identify three profiles of 20 spirituality: 'ethic', 'religious', and 'inner-self'. Finally, the significance of the 'God within' is discussed, a phenomenon that is perhaps more readily associated with Protestant forms of holistic spiritualities, but is surprisingly also significant within Italian Catholicism.

Spiritual But Not Religious? Beyond Binary Choices in the Study of Religion

“…For a large majority, spirituality is defined by and interchangeable with the experiences their religious communities have offered them and taught them how to interpret. For most of those who are actively involved in a congregation, there was no necessary conflict between “religion” and “spirituality.” Similarly, in the Italian study referenced earlier, even with wide acceptance of what Palmisano () calls “immanent” understandings of spirituality, only 8 percent of the Italian respondents claimed to be “spiritual, but not religious,” while 64 percent claimed both.…”

“…Comparing our findings with those of one of those European studies provides further confirmation of the ways spirituality is culturally packaged. While many studies simply start from the assumption that European spirituality, to the extent that it exists at all, has taken an inward turn away from church authority and toward a personal journey, Palmisano () stepped back from that assumption to ask what sorts of spiritualities do exist and how they are and are not related to traditional religious institutions and ideas (see also Barker ; Davie, Woodhead, and Heelas ; Pessi ). Asking respondents, “What does the word ‘spirituality' mean to you?” the Italian Spirituality Project offered a list of 10 possibilities, each of which could be accepted or rejected.…”

“…Asking respondents, “What does the word ‘spirituality' mean to you?” the Italian Spirituality Project offered a list of 10 possibilities, each of which could be accepted or rejected. “Seeking the inner self, developing your spiritual qualities” was the third‐ranked response, behind similar items about striving “for a state of harmony and inner peace” (number 1) and “seeking the meaning of life” (number 2), each garnering assent from over 80 percent of the respondents and together constituting a factor Palmisano () labels “inner‐self spirituality.” In our sample, by contrast, similar assertions about the inner self and seeking meaning emerged from the narratives of half or less of the participants. While the methods are different, the comparisons are nevertheless suggestive.…”

“…An important exception to this comes from a recent Italian study to be discussed later (Palmisano ).…”

Comparing the Psychological Type Profile of Churchgoers and Non-Churchgoers in Italy

“…Compared with Wales, England, and Australia, Italy remains a puzzle within the sociology of religion, as a country in which about 90% of the people still define themselves as Catholic (Vezzoni & Biolcati-Rinaldi, 2015) and in which the presence of the Catholic Church remains highly visible, while at the same time mass attendance is declining and traditional religiosity is being supplemented by other expressions of spirituality (Giordan, 2007(Giordan, , 2010Palmisano, 2010).…”