Benedict Does Brazil

The headline news today was about the impending visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Brazil. He's going to open the Latin American Bishop's Conference, which is being held this year in Brazil. Brazil is the largest Catholic country in the world, but the influence of the church is shrinking. Where not long ago 85% of Brazilians were Roman Catholic that number has fallen to 67%. Evangelicals and Pentecostals are the main challenge to the Catholic Church, which faces a shortage of clergy and questions of relevance.

Benedict is known to have problems with Liberation Theology. As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger he was involved in the silencing of Brazil's most important Liberation Theologian, Leonardo Boff. Boff resigned from the priesthood after being disciplined a second time. Though Liberation Theology has few friends on high, it remains a significant force in Brazil, and so it will be interesting to see how the church responds to Benedict and he to them. For not only is there a significant Liberationist movement, there is also a significant Charismatic element within the Brazilian church. This morning's LA Times story, which is entitled "Brazil and the Pope: An Uneasy Embrace," begins by telling about one such community, a Charismatic Catholic Church that is growing and thriving, on much the same lines as the Pentecostal churches elsewhere in Brazil.

The story from NPR that I listened to this morning on my drive from Santa Barbara to Lompoc tells more about Boff and the Liberation theology component. So, check it out.

The church faces daunting times ahead, and the challenges found in Europe, with which Benedict obviously is more comfortable with, are much different here in Latin America. Thus a historic visit! We will be waiting to hear what happens.