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The relations between the Catholic Church and the state have been constantly evolving with various forms of government, some of them controversial in retrospect. In its history, the Church has had to deal with various concepts and systems of governance, from the Roman Empire to the medieval divine right of kings, from nineteenth- and twentieth-century concepts of democracy and pluralism to the ...
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]
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.
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.
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."
The Brazilian Catholic Church, or Catholic Church in Brazil, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome, and the influential National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (Portuguese: Conferência Nacional dos Bispos do Brasil - CNBB), composed of over 400 primary and auxiliary bishops and archbishops.
Prior to World War II, numerous Catholic thinkers advanced the idea of a Catholic political regime; Jacques Maritain argued that democracy was a "fruit of the Gospel itself and its unfolding in history", writing that political Catholicism in its essence promotes democracy based on "justice, charity, and the realization of a fraternal community ...
Liberal Catholics typically take a less literal view of the Bible and of divine revelation, and sometimes disagree with official Church views on social and political issues. The most famous liberal theologian of recent times has been Hans Küng , whose unorthodox views of the incarnation , and his denials of infallibility led to Church ...