海角大神

Pope Francis makes his first trip outside聽Italy tomorrow and fittingly for the first Latin American pope he聽is flying to Brazil, home to more Roman Catholics than any other聽nation on earth.

The trip could help define the focus of Francis鈥檚 papacy, and if聽his schedule is anything to go by, it will serve as further聽confirmation that the Argentine Jesuit will concentrate on the plight of聽the poor that make up the majority of Latin America鈥檚 600 million聽citizens.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio arrived at the papacy in March with a聽reputation for simplicity and humility. As archbishop of Buenos Aires,聽Bergoglio frequently visited the city鈥檚 dirt-poor villas, or聽shantytowns.

He has cemented those everyman credentials in the months since聽taking over as Bishop of Rome, eschewing some of the more luxurious聽aspects of the papal office and speaking out against consumerism,聽savage capitalism, and the cult of the individual.

鈥淔rancis certainly has that pastoral ability to connect with聽people and he has street credibility, he has seen poverty first hand聽and lived among people who are poor and of modest means in Buenos聽Aires,鈥� says Ramon Luzarraga, assistant professor of theology at聽Benedictine聽University in Mesa, Ariz. 鈥淚t is similar to when John Paul II spoke聽of war and totalitarianism, he lived through it so his words carried聽credibility.鈥�

The trip to Brazil is to celebrate World Youth Day, a week-long聽festival of play and prayer that brings together more than 350,000聽youngsters from around the world. The Vatican, mindful of uniting so聽many spirited youths together in one place, has promised them indulgences, which in Catholic theology are the removal of the punishment from some sins.

Walkabout among the poor

The Pope鈥檚 schedule is slanted heavily towards the pastoral, with聽the Holy Father getting out and about to visit a hospital, hold two聽events on Copacabana beach, and even go walkabout in a favela, or slum,聽where a聽police officer was shot last month in a clash with drug traffickers.

That hands-on approach has both delighted and worried organizers.聽Just last month millions of people took to the streets all across聽Brazil to demand better public services, an end to corruption, and聽more accountability from their politicians.

There are some fears that demonstrators or agitators could use the聽Pope鈥檚 visit as a stage for more protest and Brazil鈥檚 security forces聽have warned they will crack down on anyone with placards or protests聽at papal events.

And yet Pope Francis would appear to sympathize with the聽protesters鈥� gripes. He has made several references to economic聽injustice and his desire for a fairer world.

鈥淚 think coming on the heels of the protests, economic inequality聽was a strong message,鈥� says Julia Young, a professor of Latin American聽history at the Catholic University in Washington, DC. 鈥淗e has the聽credentials to be a really popular Pope, a pope of the common people.鈥�

Brazil growing less Catholic

That is important in a region where Catholicism, for long the聽dominant religion, is under threat. Only 64.6 percent of Brazilians now聽profess to being Catholics, down from 91.8 percent in 1970, according to the聽government鈥檚 statistics institute.

Most of the deserters have switched to Protestantism and more聽than one-in-five Brazilians now belong to one of the hundreds of聽Protestant denominations.

Some younger members of the Catholic Church have sought to claw聽back some territory by using similar techniques to their Protestant聽colleagues. The so-called Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement聽features priests who sing, dance, and even surf.

It has had some effect. Celebrity priests such as the Rev. Marcelo聽Rossi have recorded best-selling CDs and written million-seller books, and today around half of all Brazilian Catholics identify with the CCR聽movement, according to a study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public聽Life in Washington.

However some academics say the Holy See needs to pay attention to聽the substance as well as the style. In Brazil, as elsewhere, the church has been stained by its slow and some say unsatisfactory聽response to pedophile priests and other controversial topics. Others聽say its unwillingness to admit women to the clergy or address modern聽issues such as abortion or birth control is anachronistic.

No one believes Pope Francis, who is considered a conservative聽and has spoken out against gay marriage, will suddenly pull the church聽in a new, more progressive direction.

But his focus on injustice and the poor could signal a thaw in relations with the liberation theologians who were once so visible in Latin America. The leftist priests were treated almost as heretics by the conservative Vatican and have long been marginalized.

But Francis has a shared background and appears to understand聽their roots and their motives, say academics.

"Pretty much every act and pronouncement that he has made so far聽is about the dispossessed and it is exactly the poor and dispossessed聽that have been exiting the church since the 1950s, particularly in聽Latin America,鈥� says Andrew Chesnut, the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan聽Chair in Catholic Studies at the Virginia Commonwealth University.

鈥淗is penchant for asceticism meshes well with his preference for the聽preferential option for the poor because most people live in poverty,聽especially in Latin America." The preferential option for the poor is a Catholic social teaching that argues public policy should prioritize the needs of the poor first.

However, others said the furor over issues such as abortion and聽women in the clergy are less important in Latin America than Europe and North America. The priest at one 19th-century church in downtown S茫o聽Paulo says his congregation knows the church鈥檚 positions on those聽issues and accepts them.

鈥淢ost people have an opinion about those subjects but they don鈥檛聽form a central part of our discussions,鈥� says the Rev. Andre Torres.

The main reason to celebrate a Latin American pope is that the聽region is getting the attention that is finally in keeping with its聽importance to the Holy See, says Massimo Faggioli, an Italian who聽teaches theology at the University of St. Thomas.

鈥淢y impression is that Latin America is the continent that has聽given the most to Catholicism in the last 50 years and got the least聽in return,鈥� says Dr. Faggioli. 鈥淲ith the election of Pope Francis, Latin聽Americans are seeing something like the acknowledgment of their聽contribution.鈥�