At the end of this volume, many questions arise about the future of Christianity in Latin America and the Caribbean. Will the growth of Pentecostalism continue at the same rate, will Latin America continue to be the great reservoir of Catholicism and are numbers really that important? How will the individualism increased by neoliberalism and its cultural patterns affect religious belief and sense of belonging?

This volume was put together during a time of great suffering and uncertainty due to the effects and mutations of a new disease: SARS-CoV-2, better known as COVID-19 or Coronavirus. What effects might it have on our understanding of the sacred, on the religious life of individuals, and on the church as an ecclesial community? The pandemic, like a great X-ray, has revealed enormous social inequalities and immense political imbalances implemented and exacerbated by the neoliberal model prevailing at the dawn of the twenty-first century. This model has been put into effect by military dictatorships and paper democracies, ideologically sustained by the doctrine of national security. As Latin America remains the most unequal and violent region in the world, the resistance of the youth has been the quintessential force behind social protests, particularly in Chile, Colombia, Brazil and, more recently, Cuba. These social protests lie behind the most salient political crises and transformations. How will all the widespread socio-political unrest affect the members of religious institutions and their patterns of belief?

The transformation of Christianity in Latin American and the Caribbean has been precipitated by a process of growing pluralisation in its ranks. The driving force behind this transformation has been the tremendous historical change (demographic, socio-economic, political and cultural) experienced by the region's population as a whole, as explained in the Introduction and demonstrated in the various essays of this volume. Pentecostalism is the religious response of an uprooted population, giving them a sense of belonging and meaning in their lives. But a profound and ongoing process of individuation has also affected religious belonging. People prefer to relate to God on their own terms and perform religious practices in an intimate setting, causing the weekly attendance at public worship to decline.