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The majority of Latin Americans are Catholics. About 84% of the people would say that they were raised Catholic, though only 69% of the population are Catholic today. The 15% decline is mostly due to the spread of Pentecostalism in Latin America. [1] Like Pentecostalism, the Catholic charismatic renewal began in the United States.
Brazil has the world's largest Catholic population. The history of the Catholic Church in Brazil begins with the region's colonization by the Portuguese. Jesuits played an important role in the early colonies before eventually being expelled. The Catholic Church supported Brazilian independence and worked to secure its place within the country.
Although Mexico is the second largest Catholic country in the world in terms of members, Catholicism has been declining over the past 30 years, from 89.7% of the population in 1990 to 77.7% in 2020. The number of Catholics in Mexico have decreased by 20.5% since 1950. [92] [93] In 2020, 8.1% of Mexicans did not identify with any religion. [94]
During the colonial period, the Catholic missions also included efforts by the friars to educate the Amerindians. [15] Although the missionaries focused on the “conversion,” the friars also worked to educate the Amerindians about Spanish cultural expectations, social customs, and about “political organization through the mission system."
In the late 19th century, the Catholic population of Iberian origin was reinforced by a large number of Italian Catholics who immigrated to Brazil, as well as some Polish and German Catholic immigrants. In 1889 Brazil became a republic and approved a constitution separating the Church from the State, a trend followed by all of the country's ...
Brazil has the largest number of Catholics in the world. [18] Catholicism has been Brazil's main religion since the beginning of the 16th century. It was introduced among the Native Brazilians by Jesuits missionaries during colonial times, there was no freedom of religion. All Portuguese settlers and Brazilians were compulsorily bound to the ...
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Catholicism was the only religion allowed in the colonial era; the indigenous were forced to abandon their beliefs, although many did not abandon it at all, for example, countries with predominantly Amerindian population such as Bolivia and Peru there is a syncretism between indigenous religions and the Catholic religion, that has occurred ...