With the election of the new Pope on May 8th, this is a good time to look into how popular the Catholic Church is in Switzerland, and whether people actually attend mass.
Swiss bishops reacted positively to the election of the first US Pontiff — Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV — in the Catholic Church’s history.
“I met him, he is a very, very humble man, very discreet, a good listener, level-headed, but also very efficient and precise,” said Alain de Raemy, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva, Fribourg, and Lugano.
For Bishop Joseph Bonnemain of Chur (Graubünden), the new Pope is someone who is “trying to correct the problematic developments in the United States.”
He added, however, that Leo XIV “is not primarily an American, but an experienced pastor and missionary who wants to proclaim the joy and love of the Gospel.”
While there has never been a Swiss Pope, Switzerland does have a strong historic link to the Vatican: the Papal Guards, who have served all the Pontiffs since 1506, and will continue to guard LEO XIV as well.
READ ALSO: Why do the Swiss guard the Vatican?
And that brings us to the question…just how important is the Catholic Church in Switzerland?
According to Presence Switzerland, which is part of the Foreign Ministry (FDFA), Catholics constitute the country’s second-largest religious denomination — 32.1 percent of the population, while those without religious denomination add up to 33.5 percent.
FDFA, Presence Switzerland
The chart above also shows the following data:
Other Christian religious communities constitute 5.6 percent; Muslims, 5.9 percent; other churches and religious communities, 1.3 percent; Jews, 0.2 percent; and those whose religious affiliation is unknown, 0.0 percent.
Other interesting facts included in the chart:
- Religious freedom is enshrined in the country’s Constitution
- The Protestant Reformation began in Switzerland in the 16th century with Huldrych Zwingli in Zurich and Jean Calvin in Geneva
- Swiss soldiers have been guarding the Vatican since 1506.
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A bit of history
Also according to Presence Switzerland, the Catholic Church wielded great power in Switzerland during the Middle Ages until the Reformation in 1536 greatly reduced its influence.
“However, the Catholic Church experienced a revival through the Counter-Reformation, with the Jesuits establishing a Catholic education system and the Capuchins providing pastoral care. The Abbey Library and Abbey Archives from this period, located at the Monastery Complex of St Gallen, are now recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”
Today, the cantons with the highest proportion of Catholics are Uri, Valais, Obwalden and Appenzell Innerrhoden.
The Roman Catholic Church in Switzerland is divided into six dioceses, with seats in Solothurn, Fribourg, Sion, Chur, St Gallen, and Lugano. The bishops of these dioceses report directly to the Pope.
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Do Catholics actually attend church regularly?
Yes, some go to Mass…religiously, but many have become dissatisfied with with the Church and left. In April this year a survey revealed over a quarter of Swiss catholics considered leaving. the church.
(This phenomenon doesn’t concern only Catholics, however; other religions also report fewer parishioners).
In regards to Catholics, tens of thousands have left in the past few years, as allegations of sexual abuse within the Church’s ranks became known.
While most recent statistics have not yet been released, published figures indicate that in the year 2023, some 34,600 people had left the Catholic Church, precisely because of the sex abuse revelations.
Others, however, have left the church for other reasons altogether — financial ones.
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What is this about?
Switzerland is one of only a handful of countries where most people must pay taxes to support religious institutions.
This is a somewhat paradoxical situation, as Switzerland recognises the principle of separation of church and state, which would normally preclude public funding of religious groups.
Yet, the country’s main denominations are authorised to collect church taxes; in fact, Swiss Constitution expressly allows cantons to regulate the relationship between church and state on their territories — including the right to levy taxes.
But this practice, too, extends to all denominations, and not just Catholics.
READ ALSO: Why so many Swiss are quitting the church and taking their money with them
