REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Opposing Views
October 13, 2017
By Allison Stutzka
A recent census report from the Republic of Ireland has shown a trend in religious affiliation with citizens identifying as ‘no religion’ steadily rising and the previously reigning religion of the country, Catholicism falling in popularity.
According to NPR, Pope Paul VI called Ireland the most Catholic country in the world back in 1946. The current census reports and political choices of the public have shown that statement to be losing it’s credibility over the years.
The proportion of Catholics in Ireland fell by almost six percentage points between 2011 and 2016 when it stood at 78.3%, while the number of those saying they had no religion increased by 74% reports RTE News.
Those identifying as unaffiliated is expected to continue grow in popularity as a crossover of population between Europe and North America continues according to Pew Research.
In an interview conducted by NPR in 2015, the decrease in Catholic affiliated citizens can be correlated to the rise in scandals from the Catholic church involving the abuse of young children, women and sex scandals. Ireland was once referred to as the most catholic country in the world, however with the recent statistics and controversy, the number of unaffiliated is rising.
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