Introduction: the post-colonial church

The Church in Latin America after independence bore the marks of its Iberian and colonial past. From Spain Catholics inherited a tradition of strong faith, a basic doctrinal knowledge and an enduring piety. Observance itself was a medium of knowledge, for in the Mass, the Litanies and the Rosary the people learnt the doctrines, the scriptures, and the mysteries of the Catholic faith. Portugal too transmitted an orthodox Catholicism, but with less doctrinal knowledge and a lower degree of observance. Everywhere, religion in Latin America was a religion of the people, and the Church continued to receive the adherence and the respect of the Indians, mestizos and other popular sectors. Ruling groups were less committed, and the great fear of the Church in the nineteenth century was the apostasy of the elites, not the desertion of the masses. The Iberian tradition in religion favoured a privileged and a state-controlled Church. After independence, however, the wealth, influence and privileges of the Church were viewed by the new states as a rival focus of allegiance, an alternative power and a source of revenue. The threat of state control appeared in a new form. The Church had to look to its own resources and these in the early nineteenth century were diminishing.

Independence administered a great shock to the Church. To many it was the end of an epoch, the collapse of an entire world, the triumph of reason over faith. If Iberian power was broken, could the Catholic Church survive? Independence exposed the colonial roots of the Church and revealed its foreign origins. Independence also divided the Church. While some of the clergy were royalists, many were republicans, a few were insurgents, and most were influential in encouraging mass support for the new order once the last battle had been won.