BRAZIL COULD soon cease to be the world?s largest Catholic country, and the whole of Latin America may be going the same way, according to Cardinal Cl?udio Hummes, Archbishop of S?o Paulo, the country?s biggest diocese. Speaking at the Synod of Bishops in Rome, the cardinal pointed out that, while 67 per cent of the 186 million Brazilians still regarded themselves as Catholics, the figure in 1991 was 83 per cent.
?We are anxiously wondering how much longer Brazil will remain a Catholic country ? the Church must pay closer attention to what is going on if it is to cope with this serious situation,? he said. Cardinal Hummes, 71, who is regarded as a progressive on social issues but a doctrinal conservative, called on his fellow bishops to show missionary zeal in combating this long decline. Evangelical Protestants were, he said, being far more aggressive in seeking converts. ?For every Catholic priest in Brazil there are two Protestant pastors,? he said, ?and most of them come from Pentecostal churches.?
Recent research suggests that a growing number of Brazilians are seeking less demanding religious faiths, particularly in poor urban areas. Pope Benedict reflected this concern earlier this year when, in an address to priests in northern Italy, he said that Protestant churches were attracting Africans looking for a religion beyond their traditional faiths, by presenting themselves as ?the best, the simplest and the most accommodating form of Christianity?.
The Church?s opposition to artificial contraception is one of the factors driving poor Brazilians into the arms of other Churches. But Cardinal Hummes unquestioningly followed John Paul II?s teaching on this issue, and on other controversial matters, such as abortion, homosexuality and priestly celi-bacy. At the same time, he has called on the Church to find ways of becoming less elitist and taking a more active role in people?s lives. He has been critical of market economics and the impact of globalisation on poor countries, while rejecting the liberation theology that made his predecessor in S?o Paulo, Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, a popular figure with the Brazilian Left. ?The fundamental mission of the Church is to spread the Gospel and bring people into closer contact with Jesus Christ,? he said. ?It is through this contact that we can start to correct social injustice.?
Colin Harding |snip!|Cardinal offers voters leeway on abortion. CARDINAL MARIO Pompedda, retired head of the Apostolic Signature, the Vatican?s highest court, has argued that Catholics do not necessarily sin in voting for candidates who support legal abortion. There might be sufficient reason to consider such a candidate a ?lesser evil?, the cardinal said in an interview, after a discussion at the Synod of Bishops on Communion, politics and life issues.
He said the Church punishes the procuring of abortion with automatic excommunication, and ?whoever votes for a ?pro-abortion? candidate assumes a responsibility?, but ?he might choose him, let?s say, for other aspects of his political programme?.
The cardinal?s distinction casts some light on the dilemma faced by America?s anti-abortion lobby, which has been concerned by the nomination of Harriet Miers for a place on the Supreme Court. When President Bush nominated his personal counsel two weeks ago, he appealed to the centre by stressing her sex and her commitment to public service. Now the White House finds it must shore up support from the right, emphasising Ms Miers? religion and hinting broadly that she will vote to whittle away the constitutional right to abortion. Ms Miers converted from Roman Catholicism to evangelical Protestantism in her thirties. Because she has never been a judge, she has no public record on abortion.
Richard Major, New York