Educated Italians more religious?

According to a study conducted by the Patriarchate of Venice (English here), Italians with a university degree are more likely to attend Mass than those without a university degree. That sound you just heard is the implosion of a lot of anti-religious propaganda.

Of course, the study occurred only in the Patriarchate, and contained a lot of bad news on Italian Catholicism generally. Admittedly, Italians tend to be more externally pious than interiorly religious, and their Catholicism is often more cultural than sincere. However, church attendance is one of the few reliable indicators of religious adherence, and the study confirms the observations of Italian parish priests in general, which disagree with the former (more optimistic) claims made by the Italian conference of Catholic bishops.

Imagine. According to some of my more enlightened acquaitances, religious people are ignorant, except for a few. Catholics especially are ignorant, except for a small few. Pious Italian Catholics are supposed to be the most ignorant of all, which by the way is why they have such large families, right? "Imagine" indeed.