The Important Role of the Roman Catholic Church in Forming the Identity of Latin Americans

The Important Role of the Roman Catholic Church in Forming the Identity of Latin Americans
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Latin America is predominantly a Roman Catholic region particularly because the church and state cooperated during the exploration and conquest stage. The Europeans were primarily interested in the territorial and material acquisition of Latin American resources while the church was interested in conquering souls. During the conquest and the independence period, the church and the state relied on the moral support of the church to retain the status quo in Latin America. The church assisted the state to entrench the moral obligations among Latin American colonies in exchange for assistance by the state to maintain Catholic predominance in the colonies. Owing to the extensive entrenchment of the religion, the Church played a significant role in informing Latin American’s identities.
The Catholic Church has always strived to gain mass appeal in Latin America. It works relentlessly to have the largest number of followers. “For instance, every priest undertakes between 150 and 200 baptisms every year since the 1970s. In total, the Catholic Church registers about 7.2 to 8.5 million baptisms every year”. The high number of baptisms indicates that the Catholic Church holds its predominant position as the most popular denomination for Latin Americans (Daudelin & Hewitt, 1995).
Spain’s initial encounter and settlement in Latin America was predominantly motivated by the plans to spread Catholicism to the Americans. The Spanish Crown and the Vatican consented to the church great influence over the Latin American colonies under the prelude of converting colonies to Christianity. Following expansive conversion, the Spanish took up a new mandate of military conquest. “The Spanish establish expansive missions in the region in the initial colonial phase and engaged in mass conversions. Me...