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Catholic Hispanic Population Shrinking: Poll

Becoming Less Catholic
Roque Planas
By 

National Reporter, HuffPost

HUNTINGTON, UT - AUGUST 12: Family members of some of the six coal miners still trapped 1,500 feet beneath the surface at the nearby Crandall Canyon coal mine attend an English/Spanish bilingual mass at Mission San Rafael Catholic church August 12, 2007 near Huntington, Utah. Father Donald Hope told the families of the largely Latino congregation, most of whom have avoided the news media so far, that a report he received about the missing miners this morning was not good but encouraged continued prayer. Rescuers do not know if the miners are still alive nearly a week after the August 6 cave-in despite sinking bore holes for the use of cameras and listening devices. They expect it to take several more days to dig through to the miners. The Catholic Church has been careful to protect the privacy of the Latino families out of concern for issues of legal residency status of some at this church. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
HUNTINGTON, UT - AUGUST 12: Family members of some of the six coal miners still trapped 1,500 feet beneath the surface at the nearby Crandall Canyon coal mine attend an English/Spanish bilingual mass at Mission San Rafael Catholic church August 12, 2007 near Huntington, Utah. Father Donald Hope told the families of the largely Latino congregation, most of whom have avoided the news media so far, that a report he received about the missing miners this morning was not good but encouraged continued prayer. Rescuers do not know if the miners are still alive nearly a week after the August 6 cave-in despite sinking bore holes for the use of cameras and listening devices. They expect it to take several more days to dig through to the miners. The Catholic Church has been careful to protect the privacy of the Latino families out of concern for issues of legal residency status of some at this church. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

The number of US Hispanics identifying themselves as Catholic has declined in the last five years.

According to a Gallup poll, 11 per cent of US Hispanics selected their religious preference as "None/Don't Know Refused" in 2008, compared with 15 per cent in 2012.

While the number identifying themselves as Protestant remained largely the same (27 per cent in 2008 versus 28 per cent in 2012), those identifying themselves as Catholic fell in the last five years from 58 per cent to 54 per cent.

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