‘Francis effect’ may yet materialize. But for now, Catholics have hit record low across 19 nations and territories.
Enthusiasm for the first pope picked from Latin America has prompted predictions of a “Francis effect” revival among the region’s Roman Catholics. Time will tell, but a new report shows exactly what the former Archbishop Bergoglio of Buenos Aires is up against in his own backyard: Protestants are remarkably ascendent across 18 nations and one US territory.
For most of the last century, more than 90 percent of Latin Americans identified as Catholics. But now that number has hit a new low: 69 percent, according to a thorough report on this “widespread change” released today by the Pew Research Center. Nearly 1 in 5 Latin American adults (19 percent) now identify as Protestants, while only 1 in 10 (9 percent) were raised as Protestants.
“Much of the movement away from Catholicism and toward Protestantism in Latin America has occurred in the span of a single lifetime,” noted Pew. “Indeed, in most of the countries surveyed, at least a third of current Protestants were raised in the Catholic Church, and half or more say they were baptized as Catholics.”
Pew’s findings corroborate an examination of 18 nations last year by Latinobarómetro. “In the past, Latin America was completely dominated by Catholicism,” noted the respected Chilean research group. “Today, it’s a region where clearly more than one religion exists.”
Pew researchers conducted face-to-face interviews with more than 30,000 residents of 18 Latin American countries and Puerto Rico as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project. (Cuba was the only Spanish-speaking country omitted.)
“It is too soon to know whether Francis can stop or reverse …
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