Anti-Catholic Religious Hatred in X

<p>This article analyzes anti-Catholic religious hatred on the social network X (formerly Twitter) based on 53,787 comments posted in response to news articles from six Spanish digital media outlets (<em>ABC</em>, <em>OKDiario</em>, <em>El Confidencial</em>, <em>20Minutos</em>, <em>El País</em>, and <em>Público</em>). Of the total, 19,121 messages contained hostility; 3.5% expressed religious hatred, and within this category, 28% were anti-Catholic. Using double-masked labeling and a mixed-methods approach (quantitative and discourse analysis), the messages were classified by type of hatred, intensity, and the ideological orientation of the media outlet. The results show that anti-Catholicism operates primarily in combination—especially with political hatred—and that its intensity is generally low to medium. The greatest virulence is observed in progressive environments, where rhetorical frameworks of politicization, conspiracy theories, and clergy criticism predominate. In conservative contexts, expressions are more moderate and often integrated into mixed forms of hostility. The phenomenon also manifests as reactive discourse: it almost always appears in replies within already active threads, amplifying the accumulation of “mild hatred.” It is recommended to develop detection models sensitive to conversational context and temporal persistence, and to systematically compare anti-Catholicism with other forms of religious hostility to refine understanding of its dynamics and social implications.</p>