Brazil’s Religious Crisis

When Brazil’s government proposed a law to sanction divorce, Cardinal Carmelo of São Paulo declared that the Roman Catholic Church would fight the government on the issue. This prompted one priest, “Father” Calazans, to admit that virtually all the Catholics in Brazil were Catholics in name only. For he said that what is needed besides political action on divorce is “real Catholics” who practice their religion—but these are an insignificantly small number. The vast majority of Brazil’s Catholics, declared priest Calazans, merely have “diplomatic relations” with the church on “social occasions,” such as baptisms, weddings and funerals.

So is Brazil experiencing a “religious crisis”? This was the question asked by that country’s important magazine Visão (Vision). In reply, a Catholic bishop stated that there was no “religious crisis,” because the Catholic Church is “present in every key position in the country” and even has plans for enlarging its sphere of political influence. In spite of this answer, the editor of Visão commented that regardless of outward appearances, the Catholic Church “cannot conceal the sad truth that our people are only nominally and statistically religious.” He explained that “Brazilians are much more interested in entertainment and in automobiles and refrigerators than in religion.”