Francis' Brazil trip: Retaining Catholics, security concerns

Pope Francis' much-anticipated arrival in Brazil Monday comes amid church leaders' hopes he can staunch the exodus of the faithful from the church. "This is an important visit," the Rev. Valdir Lima told USA Today after celebrating mass in Rio de Janeiro Sunday. "We need renewal." Evangelical Protestant groups have made big inroads in Brazil, and the country has become more secular amid economic growth. Fifty-seven percent of Brazilians consider themselves Catholic, compared with 75 percent in 1994, a poll released Sunday by Datafolha, a leading Brazilian research company, indicated. When Pope John Paul II made the first visit by a pope to Brazil, in 1980, nearly 90 percent of the population considered itself Catholic. Protestants, meanwhile, rose to 22 percent from 6 percent between 1980 and 2010. Throughout Latin America, people identifying themselves as Catholic fell to 72 percent in 2010 from 90 percent in 1910, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reported in February. Still, Brazil remains the world's largest Roman Catholic country and Latin America accounts for 39 percent of the world's Catholics. Experts say developing regions such as Latin America and Africa, with fast-growing populations, hold the greatest hope of renewed growth for the church, as Europe becomes increasingly secular. Francis, born in neighboring Argentina to Italian parents, is the first Latin American pope and the first Jesuit. This is his first venture abroad since being elected pope March 13. "A lot of people decided to come because the pope is Latin American," Cesar Jaya, a 20-year-old Ecuadorean Catholic, told The Wall Street Journal. "It's our continent, he's our pope." While there is a homecoming feeling during the visit, security for the the 76-year-old pontiff is a big concern, officials say. The pope has a week of open-air events, including two mass celebrations on the 2.5 mile-long Copacabana balneario beach, which are expected to attract up to 1.5 million people. Francis planned to leave his bulletproof popemobile behind and ride through city streets in an open-topped vehicle. The visit -- whose ostensible purpose is to meet with and speak to participants at the World Youth Day, a conference of Catholic youth -- comes a month after Rio and other Brazilian cities saw more than a million protesters take to the streets. The protests, which started June 20, were initially over bus-fare hikes, but quickly expanded into anger over political corruption, police brutality, the high cost of living and huge public spending for the 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament at the expense of education. The protests have quieted down in most cities but continue in Rio, where they sometimes end in violence. Francis has endorsed the protests in general terms and was expected to convey sympathy for the protest demands and those involved in the movement this week. "The pope will certainly have words about the issues the young people have raised, their dissatisfaction or searches, but also their great desire to participate in change," Sao Paulo Archbishop Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer was quoted by The New York Times as saying. Francis intends to focus on the gospel of social justice he has said he wants to make the focus of his papacy, the Times said. The pontifical visit was originally planned for Benedict XVI, Francis' predecessor, who announced the event at the end of the last World Youth Day two years ago in Madrid. At Francis' request, the original itinerary has been expanded to include a visit to Aparecida, site of Brazil's biggest shrine to the Virgin Mary. It was also there, during a visit by Benedict in 2007, that Francis, then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, presided over the writing of a policy document presented to the pope on behalf of the Latin American Episcopal Conference. The document emphasized social justice and evangelization.