Word: catholicization
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Pope John Paul II was the first pontiff ever to visit Brazil, and he was hugely popular here. But each time he visited his adoring flock, he came in the knowledge that his Church was losing followers and influence at a frightening rate. Between 1980 and 2000, the proportion of...
The stanching of the flow of believers out of the Catholic Church is great news for the new Pontiff - and an unexpected one, given that the decline has been going on since records began in 1872. "The surprise is the stabilization of the number of Catholics," said Marcelo Neri, an...
Neri identified two factors behind the slowdown: The stabilization of Brazil's economy after decades of boom and bust; and the adoption by local Catholic diocese of some of the methods that brought success to the Protestant denominations.
After decades of losing ground to the Protestants, the local Catholic clergy had also noted that these rival churches lured believers not just with promises of rewards more immediate than a place in heaven, but also by offering services that are more joyful, happier, friendlier and more down-to-earth...
"Father Marcelo is one of those people most responsible for halting the loss of followers," said Antonio Miguel Kater Filho, Director of the Brazilian Institute of Catholic Marketing. "He communicates something that might be difficult to communicate in other ways and he attracts people to him. He has charisma."