The Catholic Church in Austria has recorded an (4.8%) increase in people leaving the Catholic Church during the first year of the reign of Pope Francis as reported today in German on the Katholischesinfo.com website, contrary to all of the naively optimistic predictions of Church officials and others upon both the resignation of Pope Benedict and the election of Pope Francis. Thus, the official national Catholic population of Austria has reached an all time low.
Church officials were hoping the so called "Bergoglio Effect" would be effective in moving people to the Church, not away from Her. The soft (and often confusing) doctrinal approach of the past sixty years, which is typical of the Papacy of Pope Francis, is pleasing to the ears of the masses, but does it get people to profess and live the Catholic religion? At least in Buenos Aires and in Europe, the answer has been, and seems to continue to be, a resounding no!
