structural:scholar_edition, linguistic:paraphrasing
21st century

Christian democratic parties no longer have as much power in European politics. Indeed, in Italy, the Christian democratic party collapsed. The reasons for the decline in Christian democracy are multifaceted, partly due to European secularization and the loss of a voting base. The death of communism and the rise of neo-liberalism have also dented the movement, and the financial crisis has also shown flaws in Christian democratic welfare. Furthermore, immigration and the rise of populism have further put pressure on Christian democracy, as it is torn between the right's call for restrictions, the businesses' call for an open labor market, and the religious call for more charity to immigrants.

Some Christian democratic parties, particularly in Europe, no longer emphasize religion and have become much more secular in recent years. Recently, many minor Christian democratic parties, such as the Christian Union, and others across Europe, did not feel represented in the existing political establishment, so they formed a political organization in the European Christian Political Movement. These parties stressed the Christian history of Europe alongside advocating for traditional Christian values and economic and environmental justice.

Many Muslim parties in Muslim countries have looked to the Christian democratic tradition for inspiration. The most notable is Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (usually known by the Turkish acronym AKP, for Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi), which is Islamic and has moved towards the tradition. However, this link is questioned, given that AKP's movement toward Christian democracy may be to curry the favor of European parties in European integration, something the European Christian democrats ultimately shot down. Other Islamic groups that have been linked include the Democratic League of Kosovo and Mohammad Morsi in Egypt. Some Muslim democratic parties embraced by Christian democrats are the National Awakening Party (Indonesia) and the Lakas–Christian Muslim Democrats (Philippines), who have joined the Centrist Democrat International.