# Mediatized Catholicism--Minority Voices and Religious Authority in the Digital Sphere
## 4 The Italian Context of Mediatized Religions  
In contemporary Italy, religion has a prominent space in the public sphere: religion-related issues frequently enter the political agenda, religion-related topics are publicly discussed, and religious actors express their voices in different media outlets ([PERSON] and [PERSON] 2016). Among the religious actors, the Catholic Church has the most prominent voice. First of all, it has a large audience: it is the majority religion, with 74.4% of Italians declaring themselves Catholics, and 27% regularly attending Sunday Mass or otherwise engaging in religious activities (for example, civic society associations), according to the 2017 lpsos data4. Catholicism in Italy holds the role of a vicarious religion ([PERSON], 2018, 2019): even though it is practiced by a minority of the population, its symbolic role holds ([PERSON], 2014; [PERSON], 2013). Footnote 4: [[https://www.acli.if/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Cattolici-e-policia-analisi-lpsos-novembre-2017-pdf](https://www.acli.if/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Cattolici-e-policia-analisi-lpsos-novembre-2017-pdf)]([https://www.acli.if/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Cattolici-e-policia-analisi-lpsos-novembre-2017-pdf](https://www.acli.if/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Cattolici-e-policia-analisi-lpsos-novembre-2017-pdf)). Second, the Catholic Church owns a powerful media system, composed of a capillary network of local diocesan magazines (and about 15,000 parochial bulletins) and local newspapers, as well as national media outlets, including the Vatican daily newspaper _L'Osservatore Romano_, the Episcopal Conference daily newspaper _I'Avvenire_, the Catholic weekly magazine _Famiglia Cristiana_ (and 141 other weekly magazines), the Episcopal Conference broadcasting satellite network Tv2000, almost 35 local TV channels, the Vatican Radio and Radio Maria, and about 250 local radio stations (beyond the official press agency SIR--_Servizio Informazione Religioosa_). In addition, there are 42 missionary magazines, 650 media channels issued by associations and movements, 320 magazines devoted to the Sanctuaries, 422 magazines of male and female religious orders, other magazines on Catholic culture, 200 publishing houses, and about 200 bookstores ([PERSON], 2001; [PERSON], 2019). Although with some internal differences ([PERSON], 2017; [PERSON] and [PERSON], 2016), these media platforms channel the official voice of the Catholic Church. In 1957, Pope [PERSON] welcomed new technologies as a gift from [PERSON] in the Encycllical Letter _Miranda Prosus5_ (and many specific guidelines were issued in the following years). With respect to other religions, quite interesting is the monthly magazine _Confrontit.net_, issued by the Evangelical Federation with an interfaith editorial board covering religion-related topics as well as broader contemporary issues. Mostly non-Catholic religious traditions adopt media outlets addressing their internal audience. Footnote 5: [[http://w2.vatican.va/content/pilus-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_08091957_miranda-prosus.html](http://w2.vatican.va/content/pilus-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_08091957_miranda-prosus.html)]([http://w2.vatican.va/content/pilus-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_08091957_miranda-prosus.html](http://w2.vatican.va/content/pilus-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_08091957_miranda-prosus.html)). Third, there is a large presence of both the clergy and prominent Catholic voices in non-Catholic mass media outlets. Research shows that until 2016-2017, Catholicism occupied between 95% and 98% of the TV space devoted to religions6. The voices of the Catholic Pope and the clergy are often reported, and/or they are invited to TV talk shows. The attention paid to Catholicism in the mainstream media is so dominant that one of the most important daily newspapers, _La Stampa_, runs a website completely devoted to Catholicism (VaticanInsider).