Francesc Romeu was ordained as a priest 34 years ago and is currently in charge of the parish of Santa Maria de Taulat in the Barcelona neighborhood of Poblenou. “This Sunday is Palm Sunday,” he says. “I have already asked the florist who sells the palms and she tells me I will have a full house. The square will be bursting at the seams. But on Maundy Thursday it will be back to reality and I will preaching to just a few.”

It is not surprising Romeu feels his flock has diminished. According to the report Secularism in Figures, 2018 from the Ferrer i Guàrdia Foundation, 27% of Spaniards are either atheists, agnostics or non-believers. The foundation’s director, Silvia Luque, believes this is a “historic” figure.

The data, compiled predominantly from the National Statistics Institute (INE) and the barometer from the Center for Sociological Research, does not spell good news for the future of the Church. As many as 48.9% of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 have turned their back on religion, while just 48.5% confess to having a belief system.

...The percentage of believers in Spain stands at 69.5% with only 26.6% declaring themselves to be practicing believers, which is, according to the report’s author Josep Mañe, an all-time low. As the figures suggest, the numbers abandoning religion since 1980 when just 8.5% of the population did not believe, have risen relentlessly, a scenario which has led to a corresponding drop in Church weddings.