Brazilian Catholicism

Brazilian Catholicism is an ample religious movement which crosses all social classes, geographic regions, and generations which comprises many sub religious groups. Due to these characteristics it is not easy to relate Catholicism to a specific class or social segment. A general feature of Catholicism in Brazil is its heightened presence in rural areas, especially the rural regions of Northern and Northeastern Brazil (ALMEIDA, 2001). The region with the lowest percentage of Catholics is the Southeast, which is the most urban and industrialized region of Brazil. Because of this, Ricardo Mariano says (19:

43 The IBGE is the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics.

119 2001): The more rural the region is, the Catholic Church has better performance. The more urban the region is, its performance is worse⁴⁴.

Within Brazilian Catholicism we can highlight some forms of Catholicism:

Popular Catholicism, Conservative Catholicism (“traditionalist”), Progressive Catholicism (Liberation Theology), and Charismatic Catholicism; moreover, to these groups we can add a particularly Brazilian category, i.e., “non-active Catholics”.

The “non-active Catholics” is a group of people who declare themselves as Catholic but do not actively participate in catholic activities. They were born into a Catholic family but do not have regular contact with this religion’s ceremonies. We can say that they are a product of catholic domination; while they are culturally catholic, they are not religiously so.

According to a IBGE Census (2000), this group represents 40% of Brazilian Catholics.

Popular Catholicism is intrinsically linked with the colonization process.

This form of Catholicism arrived in Brazil with poor Portuguese immigrants but quickly became a form of religion for African slaves and native Indians. From this encounter some elements of African and Indian religiosity were incorporated into popular Catholicism. This form of Catholicism was dominant during colonial times and in rural areas of Brazil. While expressions of this religiosity can be seen in the interior of Brazil, its influence in the urban world in not strong. The main characteristic of this religiosity is that it is a form of magical Catholicism in which the catholic saints play a preponderant role, acting as personal and familial divinities⁴⁵.

44 . . .quanto mais rural é a região, melhor a performance da Igreja Católica. Quanto mais urbana, pior seu desempenho. (MARIANO, 16: 2001).

45 For more details, see:

QUEIROZ, José J. (org). A religiosidade do Povo. Edições Paulinas. São Paulo, 1984.

120 Conservative Catholicism in Brazil peaked during the period of military dictatorship in Brazil, specifically in the 1960’s and 1970’s. This movement was never numerically an expressive group, but had influence in the internal politics in the Catholic Church and secular politics. The most famous organization of these forms of Catholicism was the TFP (Tradition, Family and Property). Even today this movement continues to defend traditional catholic values against the changes of modernity. During the time of the Cold War its main enemy was the advance of Socialism, and this movement has always provided staunch opposition to Agrarian Reform in Brazil. The social base of this movement is formed by the medium-sized and large landowners. “Opus Dei” also has some followers in Brazil, and this phenomenon can be understood as a renewed version of an older version of conservative Catholicism⁴⁶.

On the opposite side is the Progressive Catholicism which is organized around the theological Latin America movement, namely Liberation Theology.

This religious movement is a product of a theological line which incorporated the ideology of the political left into religious life. It thus developed a religious stance based on the political and spiritual opposition to all forms of oppression and social injustice. Its forms of organization are the “CEB’s” (Base Ecclesial communities) and thematic organizations, namely the Pastorals. Such movements were strong in the 1970’s and ‘80’s but began losing power beginning in the ‘90’s.

Charismatic Catholicism today represents the strongest tendency in Brazilian Catholicism and, as such, seems posed to prevent further losses of ESPIN, Orlando O. A Fé do Povo: reflexões teológicas sobre o catolicismo popular. Edições Paulinas. São Paulo, 2002.

46 For more details see:

ARENARI, Brand & NEVES, Fabrício. TFP - Die rechte Militanz. INFOTERRA, Zürich, v. 18, p. 05 - 06, 01 abr. 2002.

121 the catholic faithful in Brazil. This phenomenon can be seen as the Catholic answer to Pentecostal expansion (ALMEIDA, 2001) or as revival Catholicism.

Thus, this response has embodied the incorporation of many aspects of Pentecostal religiosity such as pop star priests, body expression during religious ceremonies, the systematized collection of tithes and donations, ample use of the media (TV and radios channels), strong proselytism, and so on. The religious elements which mark the difference between them come from the control of high Catholic Church hierarchy over this movement. The result of this control is the structure of Mass and a severe vigilance over mystical and magical tendencies, which prevents magical radicalizations. The Catholic devotion to Mary is also a point which marks a major difference between them⁴⁷.

4.1.2 Spiritism

Spiritism or Kardecism is a religion that was founded in the nineteenth century by Frenchman Allan Kardec and envisioned as a mixture of science, religion, and philosophy, in tune with the religious scientism that flourished at that time. Its doctrine is based on rationalist interpretations about communications with spirits, interference of spirits in material world, and reincarnation (STOLL, 2003). The number of adepts of this religion in Brazil is not so strong, fluctuating around 2% to 3% of the Brazilian population (IBGE and DataFolha), but its influence is outstanding in Brazilian cultural life. Books, films, and TV series with spiritist themes are almost always leaders in sales and viewer ratings.

However, the main characteristic of Spiritism in Brazil which helps us in this analysis is its social class position. We can say that this religion is a typical religion of middle class Brazilians with very low membership in the lower

47 For more details see: OLIVEIRA, P. A renovação Carismática Católica: uma análise sociológica, interpretações teológicas. Petrópolis, Ed. Vozes, 1978.

122 classes. Thus, this religion bears an important point of comparison with other religions, especially Pentecostalism (BOHN, 2004).

In relation to members of other religious groups, Spiritism members on average possess more advanced educational degrees, higher incomes, and so on. According to data from the IBGE the spiritists average twice as many years of study as Pentecostals and triple the income of Pentecostals.