A major shift in faith away from Catholicism in Latin America towards Protestantism is ongoing, according to a new survey.
As Pope Francis began his official visit to Latin America, home to over 425 million Catholics, the Pew Research Centre on Religion and Public Life has revealed an ongoing surge of Catholics from the Church towards Protestant denominations, in particular Pentecostalism, across the region, with nearly one in five people today in the surveyed countries identifying as Protestant.
Conducted between October 2013 and February 2014, ‘Religion in Latin America’ examined religious affiliations, beliefs and practices in 18 countries and one United States territory (Puerto Rico) across Latin America and the Caribbean. Some 30,000 face-to-face interviews were conducted as part of the research.
According to Pew, while 69% of adults region-wide still identify as Catholic, this is a marked decrease on highs throughout the 20th Century. The survey notes: “In 1910, an estimated 94% of Latin Americans were Catholic, and only about 1% were Protestant. But Catholics began declining as a share of the region’s population in the 1970s, according to Brazilian and Mexican census data and historical estimates from the World Religion Database.”
Only Paraguay returned a figure comparable with previous highs, recording a Catholic majority of 89%. Panama maintains a majority of 70%, while Chile, Costa Rica, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico have declined to 50%, and Uruguay showing 42% of people identifying as Catholic.
Pentecostalism accounts for the greatest share of Protestants in the region today, with some 65% of Protestants acknowledging an affiliation to a church of that denomination.
Pew identified eight key reasons for people switching religious affiliation. Highest of these was people “seeking a more personal connection with God” (81%), then attraction to the style of worship at a new church (69%), seeking a greater emphasis on morality (60%), finding a church that helps members more (59%), outreach by the new church (58%), seeking better financial future (14%) and marriage to a non-Catholic (9%).
“In most countries surveyed, pluralities of Catholic-to-Protestant converts say they left Catholicism before the age of 25.”
Mindful of the visit of Pope Francis, researchers sought attitudes among people on the first Latin American Pope. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the greatest levels of favourable reaction to Pope Francis was among Catholics, and highest in Argentina (98%). And while negative reaction to the current Pontiff was extremely low across denominations, most Protestants are, at best, described as “ambivalent” towards him and doubtful he will change the Catholic Church.
The full Pew report, Religion in Latin America, can be viewed online at: http://www.pewforum.org/2014/11/13/religion-in-latin-america/#comparisons-with-u-s-hispanics
