Poll takes pulse of religion, spirituality in Ireland

CNA Staff, May 23, 2025 / 15:03 pm (CNA).

The Dublin-based Iona Institute for Religion and Society has released a comprehensive report that highlights significant shifts in religious attitudes and practices in Ireland.

Updating findings from a similar 2011 survey, Amárach Research conducted the latest study and commissioned it in two stages — a survey of 1,000 adults in February followed by a second survey in March.

A striking finding challenges the narrative of declining religiosity among younger adults.

Among 18- to 24-year-olds (Generation Z), 17% identify as religious, compared with just 5% of 25- to 34-year-olds (millennials). Additionally, 54% of Gen Z describe themselves as religious and/or spiritual, compared with 46% of millennials. This group is also more engaged with spiritual content: 18- to 24-year-olds are more likely to read religious or spiritual books, watch related content, and follow spiritual influencers on social media, including platforms like “FaithTok,” than their slightly older counterparts.

David Quinn, CEO of the Iona Institute, told CNA he thinks “young people are seeing that secularism is coming up short. It has no answers to life’s great questions and nothing to say about meaning and purpose. People will always crave these things. Religion provides them.”

Quinn said the survey’s findings are consistent with a recently published report titled “The Quiet Revival.” Commissioned by the U.K.-based Bible Society, the report finds that religiosity is up among 18- to 24-year-olds in Britain as well, with particular growth in the Roman Catholic and Pentecostal churches.

The Iona survey finds that regular Mass-goers, who make up 16% of respondents, have the most favorable view of the Church, while the 22% who do not identify as Catholic — roughly aligning with Census 2022 data — express the most negative sentiments. “Cultural Catholics,” the 62% of respondents who say they identify as Catholic but rarely attend Mass, fall in between. 

The survey highlights divided public sentiment toward religious figures, with attitudes toward priests and nuns split evenly: 33% view them positively, 33% negatively, and the rest remain neutral. 

Respondents overestimate the number of child sexual abusers among the clergy by nearly 4 to 1, on average, though this number is lower than it was in the 2011 survey. 

While 50% of respondents say they hold a positive view of Christianity and only 20% hold a negative view, the Catholic Church as an institution fares less favorably. Only 27% have a favorable view of the Church, while 40% view it unfavorably, likely influenced by the legacy of clerical abuse scandals. However, 45% agree that Catholic teachings remain beneficial to society, with 32% disagreeing, suggesting that the Church’s moral and theological teachings resonate more deeply than the institution itself.

Notably, 25% of respondents say they would be happy if the Catholic Church vanished from Irish society, though 51% disagree.

“In a way it is not surprising that public attitudes towards the Catholic Church are so divided and that there is considerable negativity, especially in view of all the scandals which are still fresh in the public mind,” Breda O’Brien, a spokesperson for the Iona Institute, said in a press release.

However, she continued: “It’s good to see that many people are less negative about the teachings of the Catholic Church than they are towards the institution.”

Quinn told CNA that he sees this as an opportunity.

“The Church needs to talk less about itself and much more about its teachings and do its best to put those teachings into practice. This is what will attract people,” he said.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/264317/poll-takes-pulse-of-religion-spirituality-in-ireland