Why are so many people leaving the Catholic Church?

I'm not going to get into discussions about whether religion is right or wrong, but I can talk about what's actually happening. It's true that there's a clear trend of people stepping away from regular religious practice, especially in Europe. It has to do with several things coming together: society has become much more secular, there's less social pressure to follow what the family has always done, and people now have more freedom to question things without feeling guilty. There's also the fact that a lot of people simply think they can live well without going to mass every week, unlike what happened 30 or 40 years ago.

There's also the question of the Church body itself having lost credibility in some situations, and that pushed a lot of people away. Then we have younger generations that grew up in a different context, where religion is just one option among many, not the normal thing that everyone did. Social media, different forms of community, new ways of thinking about ethics and morality... all of that influences things. And yeah, sometimes it's just a matter of everyday priorities. Work, family, hobbies like photography or whatever, seem to take up more time than they used to.

It's nothing sudden or specific to one country. It's happening everywhere, and your friends probably had their own reasons, which could be anything from matters of conscience to just lack of time or lack of interest. It's a demographic change that's been unfolding for decades, accelerated by the way we live now.