The Catholic Crisis in Latin America
Even an Argentine Pope Can't Save the Church
Article Summary and Author Biography
The Vatican is banking on Pope Francis to revive the Catholic Church in Latin America or, at the very least, help slow its decline. But those hopes are unfounded. Catholics in Latin America are leaving the church in record numbers because they find other religions more self-empowering, more modern, and less hierarchical. The fact of a Latin American pope won't change all that.
OMAR ENCARNACIÓN is Professor of Political Studies at Bard College.
Snapshot
In geographic and spiritual identity, Pope Francis is both an insider and an outsider. He is uncategorizable -- and that will allow him to bridge old divides and reenergize the church.
Snapshot
As Pope Benedict XVI steps down, observers have criticized his tenure as lacking diplomatic focus. In fact, thanks to his efforts, the Holy See was able to establish full diplomatic relations with several new countries, including Russia, and improve its ties with many more, not least Saudi Arabia.
Catholic worshippers sit in the Metropolitan Cathedral in San Salvador, 2013. (Ulises Rodriguez / Courtesy Reuters)
When the conclave of Cardinals met in Rome this month to elect Pope Benedict XVI’s successor, few predicted that Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina would emerge victorious. However, the fact that a Latin American Cardinal would rise to the throne of St. Peter took almost no one by surprise. Latin America is home to nearly half of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, but there had never been a Latin American pope. Further, the Vatican had been anxious about the dramatic decline of Catholicism across the region in the last decade. Mexican journalist Diego Cevallos, a seasoned observer of religious life in Latin America, had aptly captured the sentiment in 2004 when he noted that, although the Vatican had once seen the area as a “continent of hope,” it now thought of it as a “continent of concern.”
The picture in Brazil and Mexico, the world’s two largest Catholic nations, tells a thousand words. According to Brazil’s 2010 census, 65 percent of the population is Catholic, down from over 90 percent in 1970. Similarly, between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of Mexicans that identify as Catholic dropped from 88 to less than 83 -- the largest fall recorded to date. If these trends persist, by 2025 about 50 percent of all Latin Americans will be Catholic, down from approximately 70 percent today. Such a decline would offset any gains the church might make in its new continent of hope, Africa...
