Polls show the Catholic Church is still strong in Europe

Recent polls seem to show that the Catholic Church is on the rise in France and Germany. And Germany and France are often considered the two most secularist nations in Europe!

Well it appears I've been vindicated in my skepticism towards the supposed decline of the faith in Europe. For those who remember, I wrote an entire post dedicated to debunking the mainstream media's portrayal of the state of religious faith in Europe. I even quoted Richard John Neuhaus, who noted that small but dynamic movements of Christian revival are brewing in these countries.

Apparently this new found strength of the Church within Europe is attributed to the so-called “Benedict XVI effect”. I guess this would also vindicate my argument about the continuousus need for European popes.

One argument that was constantly being repeated in favor of a non-European pope was that the faith was in decline in Europe but growing in the Third World. I refuted that by first voicing skepticism about Europe's religious decline, along with a second look at why Europe's faith appears in decline as opposed to the Third World. Then I argued that if anything, a European pope is needed more than ever to revive the faith in Christendom's traditional heartland.

Not only that, may I ask the simple (but politically incorrect) question, what is so special about the Third World? Seriously, why is so much attention given to this part of the world? Why is it that people are obsessed with this notion that the Third World is going to save the Catholic Church(or Christianity in general), as people like Philip Jenkins insist? Why must we sacrifice Europe(Christendom's traditional heartland) for the sake of the Third World? I'd like to hear some honest answers to these questions.

As I stated last year: "To lose Europe is to loose an important aspect of the Catholic heritage. The conversion of the Third World (however wonderful it maybe) will not replace what is lost!"

Then again, as I even argued then, the people who scream loudest for a Third World pope(or place such a special emphasis on the Third World church) are usually people who don't care one iota for Catholic traditions at all!

Maybe that's probably why Pope Benedict XVI has so much love and concern for the fate of Europe, for the fate of the Catholic Church is closely tied to it. As Hilaire Belloc noted: "Europe will return to the Faith, or she will perish. The Faith is Europe. And Europe is the Faith."

Benedict probably also realizes that a true sense of Catholicism is the only thing that can revive the faith in Europe. I already pointed to the fact that more traditionalist services are generally well attended in Europe, while the watered-down services of more mainstream churches are next to empty. Indeed, how can one possibly be inspired by the nonsense that passes off as Catholicism these days? Europe needs the Catholic faith in its true essence, not some half-ass version of it!

It seems that Robert Spencer was correct when he wrote(upon Benedict's election as Pope): "In choosing Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger to succeed Pope John Paul II as Pope Benedict XVI, the Catholic Church has cast a vote for the survival of Europe and the West."