If you are a Catholic, how do you feel when you read reports from Brazil, considered to be the largest Catholic country in the world, that tell of the arrest of priests, monks and seminarians because of alleged subversive activities? Does it make you wonder when one of that nation’s security chiefs states that he has “conclusive proof” that at least three of the arrested religious leaders have strong ties with Brazil’s communist terrorist organization? (El Universo, Guayaquil, Ecuador, November 9, 1969)

An Outline-History of Latin America, speaking of religious life in that part of the world, says:

“The practice of religion in the Spanish colonies and in Brazil was often superficial, . . . The clergy were frequently illiterate, . . . and often immoral as well. Hence they sometimes set a bad example for the people, who in some cases lost all respect for the clergy . . . In every community the populace was appealed to by the Church through the use of religious festivals, processions and celebrations of all descriptions. Especially in Indian towns, the ceremonies of the Church appeared inseparable from the old pagan forms of idol worship. It may be safely said that in many communities in the colonies the Roman Catholic religion had broken down and had become devoid of much of its European significance by grafting upon it many non-Christian practices.”

This was in the days of the Spanish colonies, but things are not much different today. The same religious processions, with the participants masquerading as demons, angels and animals while at the same time using images and other artifacts of the modern church, are still a regular spectacle throughout the Indian population of South America. The festivals are still characterized by drunken, immoral orgies that frequently end in bloodshed, and the Catholic priests still officiate at them through the mass. Many sincere Catholics who see these things for the first time are disturbed to know about such practices in “their” religion. They have reason to be.