The Pope and religion in Latin America

religion — By Bob Riel on May 10, 2007 at 12:22 pm

Pope Benedict XVI just began a visit to Brazil, which has resulted in a spate of news stories about the religious changes afoot in Latin America. Although the region is home to half of the world’s Catholics, the Church has been losing adherents at a rapid clip in recent years. Rather than losing churchgoers to a secular society, however, as has been the case in Europe, the Church has been losing ground to evangelical Protestantism, thus heralding a fairly significant change in the relationship between Latin Americans and their faith.

According to an article in the Washington Post:

Latin America is still predominantly Catholic, but not like it used to be. In Brazil, for example, as evangelical Pentecostalism has spread, the country’s population has gone from being 89 percent Catholic in 1980 to about 64 percent today…

Similar shifts are happening throughout the region, from Mexico to Chile. Young people have shown a greater reluctance to join the clergy, resulting in a priest shortage that is 10 times more severe regionwide than it is in North America or Europe. Many congregations have tried to retain members by relaxing the formality of Masses and infusing services with more emotion, fueling a “charismatic movement” that is now practiced by roughly half of Brazilian Catholics…

“There is a trend here — even among priests — that people should be more free to follow their own conscience, and there’s a growing distance between most Catholics and the church’s hierarchy,” said the Rev. Luiz Roberto Benedetti, a Catholic priest who is a professor of social science at the Catholic University of Campinas, near Sao Paulo. “It’s a trend that goes in the complete opposite direction of the message that the pope wants to send.”

The Los Angeles Times also reported on the story and discussed the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, a Latin effort to retain Catholic churchgoers:

Rossi’s Mass employs traditional prayers and rituals, but otherwise the scene is reminiscent of a Southern revival meeting. At the service’s boisterous conclusion, Rossi uses a bucket to douse worshipers with holy water…

“It’s not a new church, it’s not a new religion, it’s the same Catholic Church – with more passion,” said Father Vandro Pisaneschi, who advises a group of charismatic students on campus. “The church realized that we had to use a different language to reach some of the faithful.”

According to some, this type of service is more in line with Latin American culture.

“It’s very much Latino,” said Father Edward Dougherty, a Jesuit who pioneered the movement in Brazil and helps run a Catholic television station. “Brazilians love Carnival, so we have Carnival retreats. We dance, have a lot of fun! In the beginning we said we’d be the leaven, we’d be the salt of the food.”