Recent Survey Finds Half of Roman Rite Faithful Are Under 45

Following Francis' crackdown on the Latin Mass in 2021, Roman Rite Catholics "have in some cases been relegated to auditoriums and school gyms," notes Francis Rocca on TheAtlantic.com (April 9).

He quotes Pope Francis who claimed that he was allegedly trying "to preserve unity" in the Church.

"But whether the pope seeks unity through reconciliation or repression, he doesn't succeed. The edict [of Francis] has hardened and widened divisions among Catholics and alienated the Church's small but young, passionate and unyielding group of Latin Mass loyalists", Rocca writes.

In an aside, he claims that "most Catholics have accepted" the liturgical reforms, when in fact, in just one decade, half of the Catholics stopped going to church.

Rocca's article refers to the findings of Stephen Cranney, a sociologist at the Catholic University of America, who estimates that many tens of thousands in the United States (out of 75 million Catholics) attend the Roman rite at least occasionally [because they do not have regular access to it].

In 2023, Cranney and Stephen Bullivant, a sociologist of religion, surveyed Catholics and found that half expressed interest in attending the Latin Mass.

According to a recent survey that Cranney and Bullivant conducted of parishes that offer the Latin Mass, 44 percent of Catholics who attended the old rite at least once a month were under the age of 45, compared to only 20 percent of other members of those parishes.

Pope Francis is 88 years old.