"To be Italian is to be Catholic" but many don't want anything to do with spiritual things. How do you reach a nation who are Catholic by birth and deeply skeptical of alternative expressions of the Christian faith? This is the problem posed to those who work in Italy. Catholic traditions and mindset permeate every aspect of national and personal life, but only 5-10% of those professing to be Catholic actually practice their faith.

The church has lost millions of adherents to New Age thinking, cults, the occult and materialistic secularism, so that even the Pope has stated that Italy is a mission field. Religious freedom has been met with indifference and church growth has been slow. Moreover, the Protestant witness is weak and divided, with most congregations being small and ineffective.