The AP has a good article on the really difficult situation in Rome – historic churches in the center, many of them with virtually no regular parish life, and populations exploding in the suburbs, most of the demographic being poor, with not much money to build church buildings:

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."

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In downtown Rome, such 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.