New study on Portuguese religion shows shift toward personal identity

The study "An Atlas of Religion in Portugal" shows that religious belonging in the country has shifted from building a collective identity to affirming personal identity. Alfredo Teixeira Lisboa and José Pereira Coutinho state that religious belonging now often serves the construction of personal identity rather than the establishment of a collective one.

The study was conducted by the Centro de Investigação em Teologia e Estudos de Religião (CITER) of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in partnership with the Instituto de Sociologia of the Universidade do Porto. The authors describe a transition from a historical period where being Portuguese was synonymous with being Catholic to a social system that values diversity.

The authors note that while the Catholic Church faces societal descatolicização and a loss of resources for institutional reproduction, the religion shows resilience. In sub-regional analyses, Alfredo Teixeira Lisboa observes that higher levels of Catholicism remain in parts of the northern and central interior, which corresponds with aging populations and demographic changes.