"A unique historical situation": How poorly the Catholic Church is faring in Europe

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Der Standard

Catholic Church membership declines in Europe, but a theologian suggests no cause for alarm despite papal changes.

🔗 Read the article on derstandard.at

[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

The Catholic Church is experiencing a noticeable decline in Europe, with membership numbers decreasing significantly in many countries; however, theologian Paul M. Zulehner suggests this should not be cause for alarm. Pope Leo XIV has been formally introduced to his new role and is viewed as a compromise candidate between conservative and liberal factions within the church, potentially continuing the path of his predecessor, Francis, but with more control and diplomacy.

🔗 Read the original article

Previous page The emergency contraceptive pill is becoming increasingly accessible across Europe, with it being available for free in eight countries
Next page More and more rivers are being freed from dams and other obstructions

© 2026 Pulse - Europe beyond the beat


PULSE is an initiative for cross-border collaborative journalism in Europe co-funded by the European Commission under Grant Agreement n. PO 4500158093.

PULSE is an initiative coordinated by OBCT that has been promoting intensive journalistic cross-border collaborations in Europe since 2024. Its main aim is to help strengthen the European public sphere by reporting on and telling stories from new and diverse perspectives.

At the heart of PULSE are 10 leading national news outlets (Delfi – Lithuania, Deník Referendum – Czechia, Der Standard – Austria, EfSyn – Greece, El Confidencial – Spain, Gazeta Wyborcza – Poland, HotNews – Romania, HVG – Hungary, Il Sole 24 Ore – Italy, Mediapool – Bulgaria) and three transnational organisations, including OBCT , n-ost and Voxeurop .

Additional outlets and journalists are involved as associate partners, including EUobserver , Føljeton (Denmark), H-Alter (Croatia), Levila (Estonia), Rubryka (Ukraine), and The Journal Investigates (Ireland).

PULSE is driven by a sort of virtual transnational newsroom made up of journalists from all the publications involved. It collaboratively produces new journalistic content on European issues on a daily basis, coming in many different languages. The editorial output amounts to over a thousand publications per year, mostly in article form.

PULSE also runs 4 thematic networks open to any European journalist interested in crucial issues such as EU enlargement, relations between the EU and other global powers, the EU’s green transition, or media and the information society. These networks function as online communities and periodically publish calls for pitches.