Worshipers leave the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus's (Universal Church of God's Kingdom) Cathedral, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Next pope faces loss of Latin American faithful to evangelical churches
Some of the challenges facing the next pope in Latin America:
Nearly half the world's 1 billion Roman Catholics live in Latin America, making it a key region, but one where evangelical churches have been making inroads.
Fifty years ago, more than 90 percent of Latin Americans were Catholic, while today some 70 percent are nominally Roman Catholic, roughly 20 percent are Protestant and 10 percent identify with no religions at all, according to a University of Notre Dame report. In Brazil, the world's largest Catholic population with 150 million followers, 74 percent of the population is Catholic. In 1995 it was 84 percent. A century ago it was 99 percent. In Argentina, attendance at evangelist churches has climbed 10 percent a year over the past five years, reaching 3.5 million today. More than 98 percent of Peruvians were Catholic in 1940. Today, 12 percent belong to evangelical sects, according to the National Evangelical Council. Number of Catholic priests in Latin America and the Caribbean: 65,430 in 2003. Number of Catholics in Latin America and the Caribbean: 416.4 million in 2003. Ratio of Catholics to priests in Latin America: 6,364 to one. In Europe: 1,385 to one. In Asia: 2,408 to one. In Brazil alone, 10 times more priests are needed. Honduras has only 450 Roman Catholic priests for 7 million people -- one priest for about every 15,000 inhabitants. Most priests come from other Central American countries, the United States, Canada and Spain.
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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Eyes closed, hands in the air, worshippers inside the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God listen in rapture as a preacher tells them to ask for fulfillment of their innermost wishes -- a new car, a bigger house, health, a better job, the return of a departed lover.
Across the plaza, worshippers inside a Roman Catholic Church shift restlessly on their pews, some yawning, as a priest drones on about resurrection.
The two churches are more than a study in contrasts -- they are on the front lines of a battle being waged across Latin America between the Roman Catholic Church and evangelical Christian groups for followers -- and the power, prestige and money they can bring.
One of the most important challenges for the next pope will be to regain ground the Catholic Church has lost in Latin America -- where nearly half the world's 1 billion Roman Catholics live -- to evangelist churches, which have enjoyed explosive growth.
Millions of Latin Americans have been attracted by the dynamic services of evangelical churches and the promises from some of them that divine intervention will improve lives.
Fifty years ago, more than 90 percent of Latin Americans were Catholic. Today, about 70 percent are nominally Roman Catholic, roughly 20 percent are Protestant and 10 percent identify with no religions at all, according to a University of Notre Dame report.
-- In Brazil, which has the world's largest Catholic population with 150 million followers, the percentage of Catholics has dropped from 99 percent a century ago, to 84 percent in 1995, to 74 percent now. From 1991-2000, the number of evangelicals grew annually by 8 percent, while the number of Catholics grew by 0.28 percent.
-- In Argentina, attendance at evangelical churches has climbed 10 percent a year over the past five years, reaching 3.5 million today.
-- Seventy-one percent of Chileans older than 15 called themselves Catholic in a 2002 census. That's down from 77 percent only a decade earlier.
-- More than 98 percent of Peruvians were Catholic in 1940. Today, 12 percent belong to evangelical churches, according to the National Evangelical Council.
In Rio de Janeiro, more than five new churches -- 92 percent of them evangelical -- were founded every week in a three-year period studied by the Institute for Religious Studies, a local think tank, during the 1990s.
Benedito dos Santos, a Catholic bishop of Sao Paulo, Brazil, said it's clear the next pope faces a major task in blunting the rising popularity of other churches.
"It was a big challenge for Pope John Paul II, and it will continue to be a challenge for the future pope," dos Santos said.
Sao Paulo Cardinal Claudio Hummes, who's considered a strong contender to become pope, has expressed his concern that the Catholic Church is losing ground among Latin Americans.
"It seems we can not evangelize (preach the Gospel) enough to those we baptize. And that was our commitment," Hummes wrote in an article from May 2002. "We are concerned and want to commit further in a new evangelization, with new missionary ardor, new methods and new expressions," he added, quoting John Paul.
As the 200 worshippers at the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God near Ipanema Beach considered their wish lists, the preacher reminded them that rewards from the heavens aren't free. Many of the faithful at such evangelical churches give 20 reals -- the equivalent of $8 -- or more to collection plates -- a lot of cash in a country where the monthly minimum wage is 260 reals, or $100.
But in Brazil and many other Latin American countries, it is mostly the poor who have been converted to evangelical faiths.
"The evangelists use language that's more easily understood by the poor," Santos said. "They go house to house, and many preach the theology of prosperity: God brings money and social advancement."
The phenomenon is mirrored in Chile, where evangelical churches are strongest in the country's poor south.
Emotional services at such churches -- where pastors and worshippers sometimes speak in tongues and fall into a state of ecstasy -- are therapeutic for the poor or anguished, said Robert Mosher, director of an ecumenical commission of the Chilean Bishops Conference.
Many testify that evangelical churches have improved their lives.
Tears streamed across the face of Balbina Iturralde, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as she told of the misery she endured before becoming a born-again member of the New Life Christian Center.
"I was sick with depression for all of my youth," Iturralde said in an interview. "God knew how much I suffered."
Luisa Aguero, a 60-year-old resident of Buenos Aires, said persistent dizziness disappeared when she left Catholicism six years ago and joined an evangelical church.
Evangelical churches are now expanding into wealthier areas, underscored by the presence of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Rio's upscale Ipanema district.
The next pope must not only attract more Latin Americans to the Catholic Church, he must also find more pastors to minister to them.
In Latin America, the ratio of Catholics to priests is among the lowest in the world. In 2003, it was 6,364 to one, compared to 1,385 to one in Europe and 2,408 to one in Asia. In Brazil alone, 10 times more priests are needed.
"Catholic priests don't seem to believe in miracles or saints any more," said Rubem Cesar Fernandes, of Rio's Institute for Religious Studies. "Catholic priests have lost the magic of faith (while) evangelicals intervene in the life of people with intense prayers."
Fernandes said the Catholic Church should respond by returning to its most compelling traditions and saint worship.
"The force of the Church lies not in indoctrination but in processions, pilgrimages, and cults of saints that mobilize communities," Fernandes said.
Luiz Alberto Gomez de Souza, Director of the Religious Statistics and Social Research Center in Rio, recommended the new pontiff also give more freedom of action to local bishops' conferences, interact more with the community, open a dialogue with other churches and expand women's roles.
Associated Press writers Lorie Konish in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Eduardo Gallardo in Santiago, Chile, contributed to this report.
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