Long-term attitudes toward science in Italian regions: the influence of religion

Abstract This paper investigates the long-term relationship between the Catholic Church and science in Italy. It uses historical data from the twelfth to the mid-twentieth century at the local level, with the number of scientists and inventors as a proxy for the development of science. The results show that more scientists and inventors were born in provinces with a strong presence of the Catholic Church and high religious tolerance. The opposite happened in provinces where religious tolerance was low. Provinces characterized by a strong presence of the Catholic Church, high religious tolerance, and higher education infrastructure were also more likely to attract scientists and inventors from elsewhere. These results suggest that the Catholic Church supported the development of science when its behavior was mainly driven by tolerance. However, when the Catholic Church was characterized by intolerance, it hampered the spread of new ideas and scientific discoveries.