A recent survey indicates the Church in Argentina is in free fall. Sandro Magister gives us the grim details:
Among the recent sociological surveys on religions in the world, two are of particular interest. The first registers the sharp setback for Catholicism in Argentina. The second measures the views of Catholics in the United States regarding abortion, just as the supreme court is preparing to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in all states, with the consequence that it will be the individual states that will legislate on the matter.
IN ARGENTINA
In Argentina, those “without religion” have come to be 22 percent of the population, when half a century ago they were practically absent. While over the same timespan Catholics have dropped from 90 to 52 percent.
Reporting these data is Sergio Rubin, vaticanista and biographer of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, citing Marita Carballo, founder of the Argentine research center “Voices!”
Argentines who say they trust the Catholic Church are also in freefall: from 52 percent in 2017 to 31 percent today. The same goes for Pope Francis’s approval rating, which fell from 62 to 52 percent over the same period.
Conversely, among those who still call themselves Christian there are rising numbers of “evangelicals,” charismatics, and Pentecostals, who in Argentina today make up 12 percent of the population.
In all this Argentina reflects a trend at work for years in the whole of Latin America, where already in 2018 there were at least seven states in which Catholics had fallen below half the population, led by Uruguay, historically the most irreligious, followed by other Central American states.
But today, even in a giant like Brazil Catholics have fallen to less than half. In the state of Rio de Janeiro they are 46 percent, with the lowest troughs, below one third, in the favelas.
Pope Francis dedicated an entire synod to the Amazon in 2019, and a few days ago he appointed as cardinal the bishop of the largest city in the region, Manaus. But while the Church is fighting for the preservation of nature, the number of Catholics is in continual decline. Today they are only 46 percent of the 34 million inhabitants of the Amazon basin.
In Chile as well Catholics have recently dropped below the threshold of half the population. And Argentina, as has been seen, is very close to this, and in addition has been orphaned by its countryman pope, who has never set foot there again since he was elected, nor intends to do so in the future.
Go here to read the rest. The Pope has imported to the rest of the Church the same recipe that has proven so disastrous in Argentina and all of Latin America: a focus on Left wing politics, a hostility to traditional Catholicism and a readiness to protect predator clergy. Heckuva job Conclave of 2013, heckuva job.
There is no quality to Francis that speaks to fatherhood. He is an abusive uncle, at best. As far as the survey results about abortion in America, let me sum them up. Abortion is legal in this country because of former Catholics, aka formerly Catholic Democrats.
Abortion is legal in this country because of former Catholics, aka formerly Catholic Democrats.
The regime in abortion law has many authors, but the most salient would be Lewis Powell, Harry Blackmun, Thurgood Marshall, Potter Stewart, Wm. J. Brennan, Wm. O. Douglas, John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy, and David Souter. Of the ten names on this list, only Brennan and Kennedy were nominal Catholics and only Brennan known to be a Democrat.
I read this survey a week ago (and linked to it in these comments sections on another post here).
Unlike St JP2, who was and is beloved in his native Poland, Pope Francis has left a negative mark on his home country. Not sure why. I’m sure there are those Argentinian’s whose sense of nationalism are happy to see an Argentinian as Pope. But, we don’t have these anecdotes which can ignite a gratefulness for our leader. We still pray for him regardless. I worry sometimes these PopeWatch articles leave me with a depressed and negative feeling toward my Faith.
On a side- My daughters piano teacher is from Poland. She told my daughter a story of when she met the Pope in her homeland as a youth. There was a crowd around him and another girl pushed her away to get close enough the Pope JP2 so she can kiss his ring. Either Pope JP2 saw this or sensed the other girls nastiness, he wouldn’t allow her to kiss his ring and he turned to the young teacher, put his hand on her head and gave her a blessing. When my daughter came home and told me the story, she was very moved. Even from the retelling St JP2 still moves the generations who did not experience him as Pope. That says a lot about the man. I hope our children get to experience that in their lifetime.