Malta Kattoliċissima: living faith or identity totem? Here are the numbers

Census data suggests that an overwhelming majority of Maltese citizens aged 15 and over identify with the Roman Catholic religion.

While 83% of the entire population – including migrants – identify themselves as Catholics, the percentage rises to a staggering 96% among the more restricted cohort of Maltese citizens.

A breakdown by age shows adherence to Catholicism ranging from 91% among 20- to 29-year-olds to 99% among those over 70. Maltese who do not identify with any religion, outnumber other religious minorities in all age groups with their numbers ranging between a mere 0.2% among over 70-year-olds to 7% among 20- to 29-year-olds.

Of the 7,254 Maltese citizens who do not identify with any religion, 85% are aged under 40.

Maltese citizens who do not identify with any religion account for more than 3% in only five Maltese localities with the highest numbers found in St Paul’s Bay (3.8%), Swieqi (3.6%) and St Julians (3.1%).

But among under 30-year-olds those who do not identify with any religion account for a tenth of the native population in St Paul’s Bay, Swieqi and St Julians. In Saint Paul’s Bay which hosts a wide variety of faiths due to the strong presence of migrants, the percentage of those who do not identify with any religion is higher among Maltese citizens (10.3%) than among the entire population (8.8%).

A bulwark of Catholicism

The Census also suggests that identification with the Catholic faith is strongest in Gozo. In fact, nine of the 10 localities with the highest percentage of Catholics are all in Gozo, where Catholics account for over 98% of the Maltese population.

Moreover, identification with the Catholic faith in Gozo remains strong among under 30-year-olds. Among this cohort, identification with Catholicism ranges from 93% in Zebbug, which includes Marsalforn, to 100% in Ghasri and San Lawrenz.

The Maltese localities registering the highest percentage of Catholics are Qormi, Isla, Santa Lucija, Luqa and Mqabba, all localities with a Labour majority at local level.

The Census results also suggest that Malta is far less secular than other EU member states. For example, while in the German Census, also held in 202, 42% classified themselves as unaffiliated. Only 5% of the entire Maltese population did so.

The Census also pours cold water on far-right fears of Islamisation. The Census confirms a strong minority of Muslims in the general population – 17,454 Muslims compared to 373,304 Roman Catholics, but their numbers are only slightly higher than those of Orthodox Christians. Moreover, only 0.5% (1,746) of Maltese citizens identify themselves as Muslims.

But while the census confirms a strong identification with the Catholic faith among Maltese citizens, it does not throw light on how deep adherence to the Catholic faith goes.

The Census considered religious affiliation as “the set of beliefs and practices with which respondents identify themselves, regardless of the level of religious attendance or observance, or formal membership to a church or religious community.”

The last study on mass attendance conducted by the church showed that that just under 37% of the country’s Catholic population go to mass on Sunday.

Malta Kattolika: From marker of identity to a culture of encounter?

For Dr Nadia Delicata, the Catholic Church’s Episcopal Delegate for Evangelisation, the Census results show that ‘Maltese’ and ‘Roman Catholic’ are practically synonymous and thus, the Roman Catholic label “is a clear cultural marker.”

“For centuries ‘Malta Kattolika’ has served to build a national identity in opposition to the ‘other’ whether the ‘other’ is ‘enemy’, ‘coloniser’ or both,” Delicata told MaltaToday.

But as amply shown by the Discern 2018 church attendance census and other studies by the same institute this “affiliation” does not necessarily translate to actual worship and practice.

Moreover, Catholic values are also interpreted differently by Catholic themselves. The question facing the church according to Delicata is how this cultural marker – Roman Catholic – can be harnessed, “for better or for worse”, in today’s reality of immigration and as Malta strives to negotiate a new cultural identity in a context of ethnic and religious diversity.

Immigration itself is also boosting the number of Catholics in Malta.

“Indeed 40,000 immigrants identify as Roman Catholics. But almost half of that figure are Asian, Arab, African and Latino Catholics, offering the local Catholic Church a stronger sense of the global reality of Catholicism itself,” Delicata said.

She also noted that in line with the secular trend where religion becomes more a personal choice rather than a cultural marker, for both immigrants and Maltese, the second largest category of religious affiliation — even larger than Islam or Orthodox Christianity — is the “Nones”.

Delicata said the number of those who do not identify with any religion are found in the younger generations. This includes 7% of Maltese under 30s, who do not identify with any religion.

“The cultural marker of ‘Malta Kattolika’ is weakening: it is no longer true that Catholicism necessarily has a Maltese or European face; nor does it seem to be true that the Maltese will continue to identify as Catholics,” she said. The real issue facing society and the church is how the embedded cultural narrative of ‘Malta Kattolika’ will evolve in the future.

She asked pertinently: “Will it be used as an excuse to erect walls against foreigners in order to defend our traditions or cultural identity? Or, in a true Catholic religious spirit, will it be used to open doors of hospitality to promote a culture of encounter and dialogue that respects the dignity of all?”

Delicata believes that the Catholic Church in Malta, that includes a diversity of Catholics, and has very strong ecumenical links to Orthodox and Protestant Churches, “can be a powerful agent to help facilitate a transition to nurturing mutual respect for the common good in an increasingly multicultural context.”