The wait to enter St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome was more than an hour, with visitors from all over Europe and the world packed shoulder to shoulder between barricades for several blocks.
Once inside the cathedral, the crush of humanity was in some ways even worse, more like entering a rock concert or a stadium during the playoffs. People constantly bumped into one another as they tried to admire the architecture or photograph the artwork.
As uncomfortable as it can be to move at a snail’s pace through a crowd that size, it’s even more frustrating when you have a specific destination in mind.
I knew that if I could get close to the main altar and cut left, I could join the line for one of the hourly Masses.
It took about 30 minutes, but I was grateful to make it. When the security guard finally lifted the velvet rope and ushered us inside, I was surprised to see that about 15% of the seats were empty once Mass began.
Countless thousands entered St. Peter’s to admire its beauty, but only a small percentage stayed to worship.
This scene reflects the spiritual condition of Europe today, a continent drifting away from faith, yet still the historic heart of Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant.
Believers from around the world are descending on Rome for the 2025 Jubilee, marking the 2025th anniversary of Christ’s birth.
While pilgrims fill the Eternal City, liberal leftist policies across Europe continue to restrict Christianity and promote Islam, which is expanding through open borders and unrestrained immigration rather than conversion. Over 30 million pilgrims are expected to visit Rome during the Jubilee, which runs from Christmas Eve 2024 to January 6, 2026.
Yet this outpouring of faith contrasts sharply with Europe’s growing secularism. In France, 33% of people now claim no religious belief; in the Czech Republic, 30%; and in Belgium and the Netherlands, 27%.
Even in Italy, home of the Vatican, 80% of Italians report that they do not regularly attend church. Across the continent, the number of Christians continues to decline.
According to the 2019 Eurobarometer survey, Christianity accounts for just 64% of the EU population, down from 72% in 2012.
Over the past five decades, southern, western, and northern Europe have become less Christian and more secular.
Europe’s Christian population is projected to fall by about 100 million between 2010 and 2050, from 553 million to 454 million, while the Muslim share of the population is expected to nearly double, rising from less than 6% to more than 10%.
Across the Atlantic, in the USA, New York just elected its first Muslim mayor, Zrohan Mandami. In the United Kingdom, a record-breaking 25 Muslims were elected to the House of Commons in 2024.
Sadiq Khan became Mayor of London in May 2016, making him the first Muslim mayor of a major Western city. Rokhsana Fiaz serves as Mayor of Newham, while in the Netherlands, Rotterdam’s Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb was elected in 2009.
Following the 2013 federal elections in Germany, eight Muslim representatives entered or re-entered parliament.
In France, several Muslim politicians serve in both the national parliament and the European Parliament, including figures such as Tokia Saifi and Rachida Dati.
Across the European Parliament, at least eleven Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have Muslim family backgrounds. Ahead of the June 2024 European parliamentary elections, a new coalition of Muslim political parties formed under the slogan “Free Palestine.”
At the same time, churches across Europe are closing or being converted into mosques. The Christian association Friends of the Protestant Church in Berlin reported that ten churches in Germany were converted into mosques in 2024 alone.
In Hamburg, the Nur Mosque was inaugurated at the end of 2018 after a Muslim investor purchased a church and donated it to the city’s Islamic center.
In the Netherlands, the Al Fateh, Sultan Ayoub, and Osman Ghazi Mosques all occupy former church sites, while in France, the Dominican Church in Lille and Saint Joseph Church in Paris have also been converted. In the Dutch province of Friesland, 250 of 720 churches have been closed or transformed, including the former Saint Ignatius Church in Amsterdam, now the Fatih Camii Mosque. Across the continent, Europe is closing roughly 250 churches each year due to declining attendance.
The Muslim call to prayer (Adhan) is increasingly being approved across Europe.
Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Spain have all authorized public broadcasts, either permanently or on specific days such as Fridays and Ramadan.
Cologne, London, Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Madrid are among the cities where the Adhan can now be heard.
This year’s pilgrimage is meant to be a Year of Hope, though for many, that hope is simply that Christianity will survive in Europe and around the world.
While many Protestants do not observe pilgrimages or venerate saints, the act of pilgrimage itself can still offer deep inspiration and serve as a transformative spiritual experience, as it did for me.
Among the various routes available, I chose the Pilgrimage of the Seven Churches, established by St. Philip Neri in 1552 as a spiritual alternative to the carnival festivities.
The route offers both spiritual renewal and a connection to the earliest roots of the faith, drawing pilgrims away from worldly distractions toward reflection, repentance, and gratitude.
Traditionally, pilgrims walked the entire route, about twenty kilometers, in a single day, praying at each church. I chose instead to spread mine over the course of a week, visiting each of the seven churches at least once.
Some days I walked as much as fifteen miles, visiting multiple churches, spending about forty-five minutes in prayer at each stop and attending Mass daily.
The walking, prayer, and liturgy allowed me to focus deeply on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which all Christians share in faith, while also honoring the mortal sacrifices of the Apostles and countless martyrs who followed them.
At times, I was disheartened by the large number of migrants, vagrants, and petty criminals, many from Africa and North Africa, who crowded the streets and loitered around the sacred churches running scams.
Crime in Rome has become so common that women now carry their purses with them when they go forward to receive Communion, fearing they might be stolen if left on the pew.
Yet, at other moments, I was deeply encouraged by acts of faith I witnessed. During a public audience with the pope in St. Peter’s Square, I saw large groups of college and high school students singing modern Christian songs, clapping, and shouting slogans like “Viva Gesù!” (“Long live Jesus!”), “Gesù è il Signore!” (“Jesus is Lord!”), and “Viva il Papa!” (“Long live the Pope!”). They held up colorful signs reading, “Santo Padre, siamo con lei” (“Holy Father, we are with you”).
Photo by Antonio Graceffo.
At first, their enthusiasm seemed more like the excitement of football fans than the solemnity of a religious gathering. But upon reflection, I realized this was simply the way young people express their faith.
It reminded me of how former drug addict and ex-inmate Jelly Roll had performed a gospel song in that same square just weeks earlier.
At a time when Christianity is declining among adults in Europe, it was heartening to see the next generation embracing faith and finding new, vibrant ways to express it.
Each church on the pilgrimage route holds profound religious and historical significance, most associated with saints who gave their lives for their faith.
St. Peter’s Basilica was built over the tomb of St. Peter, who was crucified upside down in Nero’s circus around AD 64.
The basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls stands above the burial place of St. Paul, beheaded during the same persecution.
St. John Lateran, the Pope’s cathedral and the mother church of Christendom, is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, beheaded by Herod, and St. John the Evangelist, who endured exile but not death. St.
Continuing along the path, St. Lawrence Outside the Walls marks the resting place of St. Lawrence, who was roasted alive on a gridiron for refusing to renounce his faith.
The Basilica of Holy Cross in Jerusalem houses relics of the True Cross and thorns from Christ’s Crown, commemorating His Passion and the martyrs of Calvary.
Finally, St. Sebastian Outside the Walls, built over ancient catacombs, honors the soldier-saint who was shot with arrows and later beaten to death for his Christian witness.
This sacred journey through the history of Christian persecution serves as a powerful reminder that, in many parts of the world, believers are still being oppressed and martyred for their faith.
Christians continue to be slaughtered in Nigeria, and in the country I report from, they are targeted by bombing campaigns in Burma (Myanmar) and killed by ISIS and other extremists in Syria and Iraq.
Compared to those who face death for professing Christ, walking fifteen miles a day for several days through one of Europe’s most historic cities feels like a small sacrifice for one’s faith.
At the same time, liberals in America and Europe are dismantling the very foundations of the Church through left-wing propaganda, along with laws and policies that drive people away from faith.
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