Religion in Italy

The Religion in Italy reflects the secular nature of the country, bringing about peace and harmony between its inhabitants and maintaining their happy co-existence. Italy, in fact, is a land supporting diverse religions, and its followers, through mutual love and faith lead the nation towards development and prosperity.

From time immemorial till date, Roman Catholicism had been and still remains the principal religion in Italy . As the Italian official religion since 1929, its role is significant enough to influence the overall activities of the country. About 85 percent of the Italian population is firm believers and devoted followers of Catholicism. Apart from Catholicism, Italy is tolerant of other religious communities as well. Thus the country is infested with Protestant Christians as well as people from the Jewish and Judaist communities.

Islam was almost absent from the Italian mainland since the time of its unification in 1861 till the 1970s. It is the extensive North African migration to the country that brought in Islam and with time, established it firmly on the soils of Italy. The religion started by the Berber and Arab immigrants was heavily followed by Albanians, Tunisians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Libyans, Kurds and the Middle Eastern in recent times that has increased the total number of Islamic followers in Italy to be nearly 10,000.

Prior to the advent of Christianity and Roman Catholicism in Italy in 1st century A.D, the Religion in Italy in ancient times was basically pagan in nature. The Italian inhabitants worshipped Roman gods and Goddesses who were quite a handful in number. Legends and myths about these gods and goddesses were popular in the country that stressed on their powers and authorities. They strongly believed that each group of people was under the constant watch of some god or the other who also protects them during mishaps or emergencies. Below are names of some of the famous Italian Gods and Goddesses who were highly revered by the Italians:

* Minerva - Goddess of wisdom and work
* Mars - God of wars
* Venus - the Goddess of love
* Juno – Jupiter's wife and protector of women
* Neptune - Brother of Jupiter and the Sea God
* Saturn - one of oldest Roman god
* Jupiter - most important Roman god and the lord of the sky

Paganism, according to Religion in Italy worshipped the gods and goddesses in temples sacrificing animals and other precious items in their name. With passing time, more and more Italians transformed into Christianity until 4th century A.D, when Emperor Constantine planned to make Christianity, Italy's official religion.