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- Never before have so many people left the Catholic Church as last year.
- 31,772 people left the religious institution, as shown by the ecclesiastical statistics of the Swiss Pastoral Sociological Institute (SPI).
- The number of people leaving the church increased by about a quarter: in 2018, there were 25,366 departures, as announced by the SPI.
The exit rate across Switzerland last year averaged 1.1 percent.
The cantonal differences are striking. The cantons of Geneva, Valais, Neuchâtel and Vaud have practically no resignations. This can be explained by the different tax systems of the church, writes the SPI. In the cantons of western Switzerland mentioned, the reason for leaving church to save taxes is omitted.
If these cantons are excluded from the statistics, the average exit rate is 1.4 percent. This value is similar to that of neighboring countries (Germany: 1.2 percent, Austria: 1.3 percent). Also in these countries, the number of people leaving has increased in recent years.
In Switzerland, from a cantonal point of view, the canton of Basel-Stadt is at the top with an exit rate of 4.9 percent, followed by the cantons of Aargau (2.2 percent) and Solothurn (2 , 1 percent). At the other end of the scale are the cantons of Appenzell-Innerrhoden (0.5 percent), Jura (0.8 percent) and Uri (0.9 percent), rural cantons with a Catholic character.
Lost confidence
The SPI cites the discovery of abuse scandals in the Catholic Church in recent years as the reason for the sharp increase in resignations. This would have weakened trust in the church. But also the public debates on the sexual morality of the church, on the access of divorced people remarried to receive Holy Communion or on the position of women within the church led to a large increase in numbers.
The SPI notes, however, that not all problems in the Catholic Church are “homegrown,” but a fundamental change in church affiliation is currently taking place. This is shown in a comparison with the Evangelical Reformed Church. The image there is similar to that of the Catholic Church.
In 2019, 26,198 people left the Evangelical Reformed Church. Compared to 2018, the Evangelical Reformed Church saw an 18 percent increase in resignations. Basel-Stadt is on top again (exit rate: 3.5 percent), followed by Solothurn and Uri (each with 2.5 percent).
One input for 34 outputs
In the same period, 885 people entered the Catholic Church (entry rate excluding NE, GE, VS, VD cantons and cantons without information: 0.04 percent). So there is one entry for every 34 exits.
