City Churches Empty In Rome (Italy)

The faithful lowered their heads in prayer as the priest celebrated Mass. The only peculiarity about the act of worship was its setting: A garage-like space in an apartment building, with an altar made of bamboo.

It was supposed to be temporary, but the Rev. Arnaldo D'Innocenzo's makeshift church in this desolate, working-class community on Rome's western outskirts has been serving local parishioners for more than 30 years.

About 12 miles east, in the historic center of Rome, tourists mill about the 400-year-old Baroque Church of St. Ignatius Loyola.

But regular worshippers are few and far between.

The magnificent churches of the city center serve more as museums than houses of prayer, while many among the burgeoning throngs of the faithful in the outskirts of town are forced to worship in garages, former grocery stores or prefab buildings.

One reason is a higher concentration of regular churchgoers among the poor Italians and Eastern European immigrants living in the suburbs. In addition, much of the center has been taken over by commercial spaces and government buildings, resulting in lower population density.

For the Rev. Ferruccio Romanin, rector of St. Ignatius Loyola, the problems are compounded by intense competition for worshippers.

"The problem in Rome is the high concentration of churches. But you can't ship them out; they're historical," Romanin said.

Meanwhile, the Diocese of Rome is struggling to provide for the spiritual needs of the rapidly growing neighborhoods.

Bishop Ernesto Mandara, who is in charge of building new churches within the diocese, says huge amounts of church money go into the upkeep of the glorious churches of the city center at the expense of the suburban parishes.

Complicating matters is the fact that some neighborhoods sprang up without planning in the 1960s, when the poor in southern Italy began migrating north.

In Rome's heavily immigrant Montespaccato neighborhood, a parish serving about 10,000 people was established in 2000 and it is not close to getting a church.

About 500 faithful who attend Mass gather in what was probably supposed to be a grocery store. Electric stoves keep people warm. Catechism lessons are taught in a musty underground garage.

"For one hour it doesn't harm anyone, but for anything more than that it becomes a health issue," said the Rev. Danilo Bissacco, who heads the parish.

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