By Marco Tosatti
Nine million Catholics have left the Church in two years
Statistics of a pastoral disaster in Brazil: a survey
by Datafolha revealed that adults who declare themselves to be Catholic have
gone from 60% in 2014 to 50% in December 2016.
This means that in two years about nine million people
have decided to leave the Church.
A fact that is certainly disturbing; more so when you
consider that for the first time in history a Pontiff who comes from Latin
America sits on the throne of Peter.
Datafolha showed that over the same period there had
been a significant growth in people who have no religious profession. They
would have gone from 6% to 14% over the last two years.
In 2012 the percentage of declared Catholics was 64.6
%.
The survey indicates that 43% of Brazilian Catholics live in the
south-east region, the most developed in the Country, while in the north and
east, it reached just 15% of the population.
The survey by Datafolha has a margin of error of 2%. It
was carried out last month in 174 municipals at the national level,
interviewing 2828 people over the age of sixteen.
In Brazil, even if this recent mass of desertions has
not indicated an expansion in the Evangelicals, it is opportune to remember
that half of the Protestants are from the Catholic Church. Most of the
conversions occur before the age of twenty-five, and the converted mention a
deeper relationship with God as reason for changing (77%) and the style and
worship in the new Churches (68%).
The Secretary to the Brazilian Conference of Bishops, Bishop Ulrich Steiner, declared to the daily Folha de S. Paulo, that the number of people
disposed to fight for justice is more important than the percentage of
Catholics.
Translation: Contributor Francescfa Romana
