Visitors study the ceiling of St. Ignatius Loyola Church, in central Rome. The magnificent churches of the city center serve more as museums than houses of prayer, while many among the burgeoning throngs of the faithful in the scrappy outskirts of town are forced to worship in garages, former grocery stores or prefab buildings.

Rome ? The faithful lowered their heads in prayer as the priest celebrated Mass. The only peculiarity about the act of worship was its setting: a garagelike space inside an apartment building, with an altar made of bamboo.

It was supposed to be temporary, but the Rev. Arnaldo D’Innocenzo’s makeshift church in this desolate, working-class community on Rome’s western outskirts has been serving local parishioners for more than 30 years.

About 12 miles east, in the historic center of Rome, tourists mill about the 400-year-old Baroque Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, admiring the trompe l’oeil frescos on the ceiling and the relics of saints.

But regular worshippers there are few and far between.

It’s a situation that has been confounding the Diocese of Rome, the very heart of the Roman Catholic world: The magnificent churches of the city center serve more as museums than houses of prayer, while many among the burgeoning throngs of the faithful in the scrappy outskirts of town are forced to worship in garages, former grocery stores or prefab buildings.

One reason is that there is a higher concentration of regular churchgoers among the poor Italians and eastern European immigrants living in the suburbs than among the more affluent Romans in the heart of the city. Much of the center also has been taken over by commercial spaces and government buildings – resulting in lower population density.

For the Rev. Ferruccio Romanin, rector of St. Ignatius Loyola, the problems are compounded by intense competition for worshippers: There are at least 10 other churches within a short walk from where he preaches. And in Rome’s center, there are more than 200 churches that are an important part of the country’s artistic heritage.

“The problem in Rome is the high concentration of churches. But you can’t ship them out – they’re historical,” Romanin said. “There’s no solid group (of worshippers) here. They change. They’ll come and say, ‘Oh, what a nice sermon,’ and then they leave and I never see them again.”

Neglected in suburbs

Meanwhile, the Diocese of Rome is struggling to provide for the spiritual needs of the rapidly growing neighborhoods on the outskirts of Rome.

Bishop Ernesto Mandara, who is in charge of building new churches within the diocese, says huge amounts of church funds go into the upkeep of the glorious churches of the city center at the expense of the suburban parishes. He said priests who have been waiting for a church for years often lobby him for a new building.

“Sometimes I live as if I were surrounded by creditors – I have to hide from parish priests, some of whom live in dire situations,” Mandara said.

At his parish of San Patrizio a Colle della Mentuccia, D’Innocenzo described the frustration he has lived through waiting for a church.

“I’ve been here 33 years,” he said. “I’ve become an old man.”

He said generations of children have been baptized and received their first Communion in his ramshackle church, but nobody wants to get married there. “They all looked for a more beautiful church,” he said.

Empty landmarks

In downtown Rome, such artistic landmarks as Santa Maria del Popolo e San Luigi dei Francesi are mostly empty and their religious purpose has been reduced mainly to hearing confessions – often from tourists.

“At the root of the problem is how to keep up these structures that from a pastoral point of view are not needed, but that are artistic treasures,” Mandara said. “The problem of the new churches in Rome is an absurd problem.”

Mandara said there are 19 existing parishes that still do not have churches, and finding the money to do so can be a struggle. The average cost of building a parish church is between $4.62 million and $5.28 million, with half the funding coming from tax payments to the church, and the other half coming from the diocese.

Raising money can be a challenge in working-class neighborhoods.

“Getting economic help from the new neighborhoods is difficult, but not for lack of generosity,” Mandara said. “Often, it’s young couples with a mortgage. I can’t ask people with mortgages to give me money.”

Mandara’s cause got a boost during the Catholic Church’s 2000 Jubilee year, when 50 new churches were planned for the city as part of initiatives to mark Vatican celebrations.

That’s how D’Innocenzo finally got his church. He will inaugurate it March 18.

“It took the Jubilee of 2000, when the city agreed to transform farm land into areas zoned for construction,” D’Innocenzo said. “And that’s when we bought it.”