» The changing faith of Latin America

Pope Benedict is touring Brazil this week, where one of the major topics of concern was what, if anything, the Catholic church in Latin America can do to stem the rise of Pentecostalism.

Here’s an edited version of the Religion Report on the changing faith of Latin America.

Forty-million people left the Catholic church in Latin America during the last ten years.

The number of Pentecostals and charismatics combined in 1970 was only 4% of the Latin American population. In 2005, the percentage of Pentecostals alone was 13%, or 75-million. Charismatic members of non-Pentecostal churches accounted for another 15% or 80-million people, although this figure does include charismatic Catholics.

One of Latin America’s poorest countries, and one of the biggest success stories for evangelicals is Guatemala, where Gallop polls show between 25% and 30% of the population identifying themselves as born-again. According to the British Catholic magazine ‘The Tablet’, 40-million people have left the Catholic church in Latin America in the past ten years. In Mexico, 2,000 people are leaving per week.

The Assembly of God church has 12-million people in Brazil; in Mexico there are a million Pentecostals. But Catholicism still has a very strong presence in Latin America; the problem is, the dynamic is completely different to what Latinos want.

The problem is that the institution is culturally disconnected with very high costs.

The culture differences are obvious to anyone who’s ever darkened the doors of both Catholic and Pentecostal churches. The reverent atmosphere of Catholic mass, against the all-singing, all-dancing alternative.

Mexico is struggling for enough priests. It’s the second-largest Catholic country after Brazil. Mexico only has 14,000 priests for 80-million people. That’s one per 7,000 followers. Compare that to the evangelicals who have one pastor for 300 people. All these elements bring a crisis to the system. And a lot of people are leaving Catholicism.