Italy's young Catholics

According to today's Christian Science Monitor, the Church is experiencing something of a revival in Italy. Cristina Pavone left Dublin, returned to Italy and joined a Franciscan order.

"I was far from God," she says quietly, wrapping her hands around a hot mug in the monastery's drafty dining hall. "I experimented with everything you can experiment with to find happiness. Now that I've left everything, I've found everything."

She isn't alone in her devotion. A small but burgeoning group of young Italians are turning to Catholicism with new fervor, suggesting a reversal of Catholicism's decades-long decline in Italy.

While there's some disagreement about how much of a turn-around this represents, Mass attendance is up and there are more women becoming nuns. Hard to say if this represents a new beginning or just a blip.