It remains a paradox that they are the moment of greatest visibility of the movements for freedom. Collectives such as Europa Laica, the Madrid Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (AMAL) or Ateus de Catalunya presented manifestos on the eve of the arrival of Leo XIV against the visit, the public spending it entails and what they consider “privileges of the”. They criticize the Pontiff’s intervention in Congress or the Barcelona City Council’s use of the Olympic stadium to hold a vigil.
In Madrid they urged the parties to: Podemos and the BNG did not attend this Monday. In the capital, they also called a protest last Thursday afternoon in front of the Reina Sofía Museum, where they gathered a hundred people. In Barcelona, they are preparing a rally for the afternoon of the 9th, the first of the two that Leo XIV will spend in the city. In the Canary Islands, Canarias Laica has denounced the cost of visiting the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife, and has compared it with the vulnerability and poverty indices in the archipelago.
But they hardly go out on the streets: because there are other more pressing wars (such as the housing crisis or cuts in public services); and because Francis Prevost’s positions against Trump’s migrant deportation policies or the death of civilians in Gaza and in favor of human rights make him . Some remember it as a milestone of the secularist and atheist movement, with the motto Of my taxes to the Pope zero. For a secular statecoinciding with World Youth Day and the eve of Benedict XVI’s visit. It brought together 5,000 people, according to the police, including lay people, grassroots Christians, Republicans, gays, atheists and people outraged by the eviction of the 15-M movement camp in Puerta del Sol. The call ended with , after protesters and pilgrims who were attending the youth meeting crossed paths.
In Catalonia, the report has been published for 15 years Secularism in figuresbased on data especially from the . The co-author of the 2026 study, Joan Gorina, explains that the foundation seeks to “put data and keep an active public debate” which, he admits, “has lost weight.” The data, he emphasizes, indicate that “Spain is experiencing a process of secularization, where, although religious options continue to be the majority, there are more and more people ascribed to non-religious conscience options.” Going down to detail, in 2025, 55.1% of the population declares itself Catholic (practicing or not), while the non-religious options added (atheism, agnosticism and indifference) are close to 40% (15.4% declare themselves atheist, 12.1%, indifferent or non-believer and 11.8%, agnostic). “In 1980, non-religious options were only 8.5%,” Gorina notes.
The territorial analysis by communities shows relevant differences. Catalonia and the Basque Country, the 2025 report highlights, are the territories with the most people without religious beliefs. In the Basque Country they are the majority, with 50.5% of responses in the CIS barometers. In Catalonia they are 47.6% and in Madrid 45.2%. The report also highlights that young people are the least religious, although non-religiosity shows a slight downward trend, it adds.
In Catalonia, the Pope’s visit has caused the revival of the campaign, promoted by entities such as the Ferrer i Guàrdia Foundation and Europa Laica, and with some 40 unions or associations joining. During the presentation of the manifesto and the protest on the 9th, the spokespersons attacked “the privileges of the Church” or the public expense that the visit will entail. And they assured that their criticisms are not against believers.
Apostasy leaves the agenda
Albert Riba, president of Ateus de Catalunya, admits that the movement is not at its best: “The conditions are bad compared to the last Papal visit in 2010: then all the left-wing political parties carried secularism in their electoral programs. Now, none.” And also in 2010, organized protests called for apostasy, a proposal that they did not even mention in the presentation of the campaign. However, Riba strongly criticized: “How can they invite to the Congress, which is the center of democracy, a person who does not respect democracy? Are there elections in the Vatican? Do women vote? It is an autocracy, in his country he rules,” he stated on the day of the presentation and compared the papal trip to those made by the Queen of England to the Commonwealth countries, where she was received by thousands of people: “We are not a colony of the Vatican,” he concluded.
In Madrid, the president of AMAL, Luis Vega, lists the reasons why they question the visit of Leo XIV: “We denounce the exaggerated public spending and the paraphernalia of the visit” and points out his historic request; “Let the agreement with the Church be annulled.” A veteran of several social movements, Vega confirms that there will be no major protests against the visit of Leo XIV. “The associative movement has decreased a lot, there is a general discouragement and in the case of atheism, it has never been a priority fight, although many people consider themselves atheists; another thing is that they protest,” he says and adds: “Because of the positions that have been [el Papa]it is difficult to be against them.” “We atheists do not proselytize: we fight against the privileges of the Church, not for people to be atheists,” he concludes.
The Ferrer i Guàrdia report also highlights the decrease in the percentage of personal income tax taxpayers (with data from 2022) who mark (10%) or the Church and social purposes option (21%). Gorina indicates another sign of secularization: “The distancing of society from the Church at times when decades ago religiosity had a very important role in the rites of passage, and when it is possible to do it differently, it is done.” If in 1992 there were only 20% of civil marriages, now they are 83.6%.
There is another new study, of which only one edition has been published: , professor of Sociology and collaborator in the study, insists that “in the last 20 years there has been an accelerated increase in people who declare themselves non-religious and that the BREC confirms at 42%, a figure very similar to the CIS.” The interesting thing, the researcher points out, is that, in the sector of the population that is defined as non-religious, approximately half affirm that they have some type of “belief” or “spirituality”, which adds a layer of complexity to the Catholic or non-Catholic binomial.
