page_title: Religion in Spain
section_title: Antiquity and late Antiquity
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Spain / History / Antiquity and late Antiquity
context_page_description: The major religion in Spain has been Catholic Christianity since the Reconquista, with a small minority of other Christian and non-Christian religions and high levels of secularization as of 2020. The Pew Research Center ranked Spain as the 16th out of 34 European countries in levels of religiosity, which is lower than Italy, Portugal and Poland, but much higher than the United Kingdom and the Nordic countries. There is no official religion and religious freedom is protected: the Spanish Constitution of 1978 abolished Catholicism as the official state religion, while recognizing the role it plays in Spanish society.
  Catholicism has been present in the Iberian Peninsula since Roman times. The Spanish Empire spread it to the Philippine islands and Latin America, which are now predominantly Catholic countries. However, since the end of the Francoist dictatorship practical secularization has grown strongly. Only 3% of Spaniards consider religion as one of their three most important values, lower than the 5% European average.
  A Survey published in 2019 by the Pew Research Center found that 54% of Spaniards had a favorable view of Muslims, while 76% had a favorable view about Jews.
context_section_description: Before Christianity, there were multiple beliefs in the Iberian Peninsula including local Iberian, Celtiberian and Celtic religions, as well as the Greco-Roman religion.
  According to a medieval legend, the apostle James was the first to spread Christianity in the Roman Iberian Peninsula. There is no factual evidence of this but he later became the patron saint of Spaniards and Portuguese, originating the Way of St James. According to Romans 15, Paul the Apostle also intended to visit Hispania; tradition has that he did and founded the Diocese of Écija, but there is no evidence of this either. Other later myths include the Seven Apostolic Men.
  There is some archaeological evidence of Christianity slowly penetrating the Peninsula from Rome and Roman Mauretania via major cities and ports, especially Tarragona, since the early 2nd century. The Paleo-Christian Necropolis of Tarragona, with 2,050 discovered tombs, dates back to the second half of the 3rd century. Saints like Eulalia of Mérida or Barcelona and many others are believed to have been martyred during the Decian or Diocletianic Persecutions (3rd–early 4th centuries). Bishops like Basílides of Astorga, Marcial of Mérida or the influential Hosius of Corduba were active in the same period.
  Theodosius I issued decrees that effectively made Nicene Christianity the official state church of the Roman Empire., This Christianity was already an early form of Catholicism.
  As Rome declined, Germanic tribes invaded most of the lands of the former empire. In the years following 410 the Visigoths—who had converted to Arian Christianity around 360—occupied what is now Spain and Portugal. The Visigothic Kingdom established its capital in Toledo; it reached its high point during the reign of Leovigild (568-586). Visigothic rule led to a brief expansion of Arianism in Spain, however the native population remained staunchly Catholic. In 587 Reccared, the Visigothic king at Toledo, converted to Catholicism and launched a movement to unify doctrine. The Council of Lerida in 546 constrained the clergy and extended the power of law over them under the blessings of Rome. The multiple Councils of Toledo definitively established what would be later known as the Catholic Church in Spain and contributed to define Catholicism elsewhere.
caption: The 7th-century Visigothic church of San Pedro de la Nave
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