The future of the Church

Fr. Livio Tonello, director

At this time we often think about the future because we fear with regards to the future. So we think about the future of our planet fearing dramatical events like droughts and the impact of climate change that cause deaths and destruction. We think about the future of Ukraine that fears a long war. We think about the future of our relationships with our family and friends challenged by a virus that seems to be invincible. For some time we have been wondering about the future of the Church. The statistics are not encouraging: some publications (Are we the last Christians? The Church is burning, Closed Churches), underline the incertitude and the worries of the ecclesiastic structures. We can note in our daily experience: the sharp decline in the numbers of Catholics going to Sunday Mass and of the volunteers and pastoral operators, the weak influence of Catholic thought on the society, the loss of authority of the hierarchy. The pandemic has just accelerated the inexorable erosion of the numbers of worshippers that started many years ago. So we wonder what the future of the Church will be and more generally of Christianity. Christianity is increasing in the word except…