Catholicism Thrives in the Americas While Facing Up to Unpleasant Truths

I recently wrote an article on the role the Celtic Church played in spreading Catholicism across western Europe and North America*. I would now like to discuss the part played by European colonialism in the global expansion of our faith.

The English historian Paul Johnson claims in his majestic book “A History of Christianity” that if these European forces had not expanded into the New World then Christianity could have ended up as a minority cult restricted to a few countries in western Europe instead of becoming the world´s biggest religion. It would have been swamped by a later doctrine, Islam, which was spread at the point of a sword from Arabia to the Middle East, Asia, Africa and parts of Europe such as the Balkans and the Iberian peninsula.

Johnson´s claim was made 50 years ago but it can be backed up the latest figures that show that the largest percentage of the global Catholic population is found in the Americas - around 48%. That is almost half the total. Europe and Africa are almost equal with around 20% while Asia has 11%. Oceania has just under one percent. 

The arrival of Catholicism in the New World was due mainly to the Spaniards, Portuguese and French who came with missionaries and the blessing of the Popes. The English and Dutch were mainly responsible for spreading Protestantism in its various forms. Christianity, whether Catholic or Protestant, was a foundation stone of the modern Americas and is still a powerful force.

Around 85% of Latin Americans and 60% of Americans regard themselves as Christians. Most Latin Americans are Catholics while most Americans are Protestant. Politics and religion are closely connected. For example, no American president has ever identified himself as atheist. Only two have been Catholics – John Kennedy and Joe Biden. Nearly all Latin American leaders have been Christians, usually Catholics. The current president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, is the first Jewish leader of the world´s largest Spanish-speaking nation.

The Spanish established Catholicism over an enormous territory ranging from western parts of the United States down to Cape Horn and encompassing parts of the Caribbean. Places we now consider intrinsic parts of the US like California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming, all belonged to Mexico at one point after it gained its independence from Spain.

Portugal´s main colony, Brazil, covered half of South America and it now has the biggest Catholic population of any nation. The French also played a role in introducing Catholicism to large parts of Canada and the sprawling territory of Louisiana before it was absorbed into the US.

All of this took centuries to develop and it did not come without a heavy price. Critics have dismissed the idea that the colonizing powers were out to save the souls of the local people by introducing them to Christianity. They say this expansionism was nothing more than the brutal exploitation of societies that were not strong enough to withstand the superior forces of the Europeans. There is a lot of truth in this because the driving force from the 15th century was the search for gold, trade and conquest. Native peoples were murdered and enslaved, their lands seized and their cultures suppressed, all with the blessing of the Church.

The Catholic Church has accepted its role in this sad story. In 2023 the Vatican issued a statement repudiating the “Doctrine of Discovery” – the theory that served to justify the expropriation by colonizers of indigenous lands from their rightful owners. It added that the papal bulls that granted such “rights” to colonizing sovereigns had never been a part of the Church’s Magisterium, i.e. its teaching authority.

This statement was issued eight months after Pope Francis visited Canada and met with leaders of indigenous peoples. Although the statement acknowledged that “many Christians have committed evil acts against indigenous peoples for which recent Popes have asked forgiveness on numerous occasions” it also paid tribute to the “numerous examples of bishops, priests, women and men religious and lay faithful who gave their lives in defense of the dignity of those [indigenous] peoples.”

Pope Francis himself knew about the effects of colonial oppression in his own country, Argentina, as does our current Pope Leo who has American and Peruvian citizenship.

This apology was too little and too late in some eyes but by issuing it and previous apologies the Church was admitting its sins. It is easy to make moral judgements in hindsight and this suffering is something Catholics will have to live with. At least the Catholic Church has been humble enough to admit its sins unlike Islam which was Christianity´s greatest rival at that time – and still is - and imposed its religion in a way that was equal to or even worse than the European colonizers.

·    *“Catholicism Owes a Lot to the Celtic Church”, July 18, 2025

© John Brander Fitzpatrick 2025