The Catholic Church in Guatemala is part of the worldwide

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, under spiritual leadership of the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

Curia Curia (: curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally probably had wider powers, they came to meet ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and the

Episcopal Conference of Guatemala The Episcopal Conference of Guatemala () is the Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference of Guatemala. The CEG is a member of the Latin American Episcopal Conference and the Central Episcopal Secretariat of America (CESA). See also *Catholic Church in ...

. There are approximately 7.7 million Catholics in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

, which is about 46% of the total population of 17.1 million citizens.

History

Introduction of Protestantism

Historically, Guatemala has been predominantly Catholic. Beginning in 1959, after

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

began the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

, the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

became increasingly aware of the number of Protestant

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

traveling to

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. Following this realization, several

Catholic priests The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

and missionaries traveled to Latin America to increase the number of priests and baptized

Latinos Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spanish or Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race. According to th ...

. Over the past few decades, Protestantism has grown throughout the area. Guatemala currently contains the largest number of Protestants (approximately 40%) than any other Latin American country. The largest Protestant denominations present in Guatemala today are

Presbyterians Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

Pentecostals Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term ''Pentecostal'' is derived ...

Lutherans Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

, and

Episcopalians Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Prot ...

. Protestants first began to arrive in Guatemala in 1882 as a result of President Rufino Barrios desire to challenge the power of the Catholic Church. He invited several Presbyterian,

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

and Baptist missionaries, but only when Pentecostal missionaries arrived from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

did Guatemala see an influx in Protestant converts.

Charismatic Catholicism

Charismatic Catholics is a religious movement that has a set mind to increase the number of Catholic converts. Its members in Guatemala increase the numbers of Catholics in Latin America with the help of social organizations, missionaries, and

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

. In the mid twentieth century, Catholic Guatemalans feared that Catholicism would become the minority to Protestantism. Many Catholics began converting to Protestantism instead during this time period. Also, there were very few native Guatemalan priests because this job was mostly taken up by missionaries from the United States. The Charismatic Catholics bounced back with a large number of foreign missionaries, an increase in Guatemalan priests, and other lay revitalization within the Church as a whole. They believed that "the quest for identity was important and difficult" in the changing modern times.

Status of Religious Freedom

There is no state religion in Guatemala, however the Guatemalan Constitution recognizes the legitimacy of the Catholic Church. The constitution also recognizes freedom of religion to all of its citizens, and the government protects and honors this law. Although the Catholic Church is the only religion recognized by the Guatemalan Constitution, any other

religious affiliation Religious identity is a specific type of identity formation. Particularly, it is the sense of group membership to a religion and the importance of this group membership as it pertains to one's self-concept. Religious identity is not necessarily the ...

can file a copy of its

bylaws A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some other ...

and a list of its initial membership to the Ministry of Government in order to receive recognition. The only requirement of the Guatemalan government is that each religious affiliation register as

legal entities In law, a legal person is any person or legal entity that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for the term "''legal'' person" is t ...

if they want to participate in business of any kind. Applicants are rejected if "the organization does not appear to be devoted to a religious objective, appears to be in pursuit of illegal activities, or engages in activities that appear likely to threaten the public order."

Turmoil in Guatemala

Social Discrimination and Disputes

There have been several disputes between Catholics and the indigenous

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

people. Many Catholic churches had been built on ancient Mayan sites during the

Spanish colonization of the Americas The Spanish colonization of the Americas began in 1493 on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) after the initial 1492 voyage of Genoa, Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus under license from Queen Isabella ...

which has upset the Mayan people not only because it is their land, but because several Catholic priests do not allow the Mayan people to access this land at all. Also, many Evangelical Protestants refuse to converse about any topics. Representatives from Catholic, Protestant,

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, and Mayan spirituality meets every two-three months out of the year at the Interreligious Dialogue at the Foro Guatemala to discuss several select topics such as

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

and political issues. Also, beginning in the 1960s, Catholic bishops and priests have joined to work with indigenous

people to create a basis of local

leadership Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

, improve

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

and

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

, and also organize cooperatives.

Revolution and Disaster

During the 1960s, revolutionary upheaval began in

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

. After the armed movement was put down by the

Guatemalan Army The Guatemalan Armed Forces () is the unified military organization comprising the Guatemalan Army, Navy, Air Force, and Presidential Honor Guard. The president of Guatemala is the commander-in-chief of the military, and formulates policy, tra ...

, the movement came back stronger than before. It was now called the Guerrilla Army of the Poor, and began an insurgency campaign against the government: the Guatemalan military adopted

scorched earth A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy of destroying everything that allows an enemy military force to be able to fight a war, including the deprivation and destruction of water, food, humans, animals, plants and any kind of tools and i ...

tactics and started killing hundreds of thousands of indigenous Mayan peasants in the western highlands. During the 1960s, the Catholic Church in Guatemala was suppressed by anti-communist Guatemalan governments, due to suspected Marxist sympathies. Lower Catholic orders were also targeted by the military, as they were seen as subversive and instrumental in the spread of liberation theology. Guatemala again experienced more destruction in 1976 when an earthquake took the lives of 20,000 people and injured 80,000 more.

Organization of the Catholic Church in Guatemala

Dioceses

* Archdiocese of Guatemala ** Diocese of Escuintla ** Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima ** Diocese of Jalapa ** Diocese of Verapaz, Cobán ** Diocese of Zacapa y Santo Cristo de Esquipulas * Archdiocese of Los Altos Quetzaltenango-Totonicapán ** Diocese of Huehuetenango ** Diocese of Quiché ** Diocese of San Marcos ** Diocese of Sololá-Chimaltenango ** Diocese of Suchitepéquez-Retalhuleu

Apostolic Vicariates

* Apostolic Vicariate of Izabal *

Apostolic Vicariate of El Petén The Vicariate Apostolic of El Petén () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or apostolic vicariate of the Catholic Church in Petén Department, Guatemala. Its cathedral is the ''Catedral Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios y San Pablo Itz� ...

References

{{North America in topic, Catholic Church in, groupstyle=background-color:gold, titlestyle=background-color:gold