Sobering

John Allen asks, "why hasn't Catholicism had a more positive effect" in Latin America?

Catholicism has enjoyed a spiritual monopoly in the region for more than 500 years, and today almost half the 1.1 billion Catholics alive are Latin Americans. Moreover, Latin Americans take religion seriously; surveys show that belief in God, spirits and demons, the afterlife, and final judgment is near-universal.

The sobering reality, however, is that these facts could actually support an "emperor has no clothes" accusation against the church. Latin America has been Catholic for five centuries, yet too often its societies are corrupt, violent, and underdeveloped. If Catholicism has had half a millennium to shape culture and this is the best it can do, one might be tempted to ask, is it really something to celebrate?

I'm reminded of the scene, in Godfather III, when Michael is meeting with the future Pope John Paul I:

CARDINAL LAMBERTO

Look at this stone. It has been lying in the water for a very long time, but the water has not penetrated it.

<He breaks the stone.>

CARDINAL LAMBERTO

Look. Perfectly dry. The same thing has happened to men in Europe. For centuries they have been surrounded by Christianity, but Christ has not penetrated. Christ doesn't breathe within them.