Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe
Religion has reasserted itself as an important part of individual and national identity in a region that was once dominated by atheist communist regimes.
When Benedict XVI was elected pope in 2005, religious observance among Europeans had been in decline for decades, and he set out to stem the tide of secularization. How successful was he? Pew Research polls indicate that during his papacy, religious observance among Catholics in France, Germany, Spain and Italy remained low but fairly stable.
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