Pope at the Beach: World Youth Day 2013 in Rio

After posting "Where Are All the People," my impressions of Catholicism in Rio altered somewhat. A Jesuit educated tour guide in Salvador spoke knowledgeably about current movements within the Church.  A visit to the modern Christ the Redeemer Statute above Rio revealed a secularized celebration of humanity at the feet of Christ with visitors lying on the platform to get a shot of a friend with arms raised and Cristo in the background.  (You're right.  We couldn't resist.)

And chancing upon a packed, vibrant noon-time mass in Rio suggested that while many Brazilians are not outwardly devoted, Catholic doctrine and practices are pillars of the society.

Whether Argentinian Pope Francis' visit to Brazil for World Youth Day in a few weeks will spark renewed interest in Catholicism is a question of interest.  When I recounted to a Rio cab driver the 500,000 faithful who celebrated mass with Pope John Paul II at Cherry Creek Reservoir in 1993, he nodded sagely and raised his chin toward Copacabana Beach.  "We'll have many more.  Many more."  From the number of scaffolds being constructed down the 4 kilometers of the beach, he's got to be right.

A short time later we wound up at Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian, an ultramodern design by Edgar Fonceca completed in 1979, in the company of groups of young people who seemed to be gathering in preparation for a mass and World Youth Day activities.  

Again I had to rethink my assumptions about the secular nature of Brazilian Catholicism.  I witnessed irrefutable evidence that the Church played a strong role in people's spirituality even though many are uncomfortable with the Church's history of oppression of slaves and native peoples and the current proclamations about lifestyle choices.

Of course, it's naive to think that the complexity of the Catholic Church's role in Brazil can be understood in a short month.  Perhaps the attitudes are as individual as the people expressing them.

Global Classroom:  What is the role of organized religion in democratic societies?  How does the financial status of a particular religion impact its role?  To what extent does religion reflect a people's hopes and beliefs about themselves?