Fusion of Two Cultures (1963) by Jorge González Camarena. Museo Nacional de História, Mexico. (Cropped).

There is a certain impression that the American modernist hierarchy have communicated to their flocks: the image of the Latino community as largely consisting of humble, devout Catholics simply seeking a “better life” in the United States. Such a message insinuates outright the idea that Latinos, on average, are “better Catholics” than White Americans—thus worthy immigrants who should be allowed into the U.S. or granted amnesty without suspicion. This stereotype has then a political utility: it justifies the mass migration of Latin Americans into America on moral grounds; it imposes a moral dialectic that renders integrating them “Catholic”, while deporting them “anti-Catholic”. But this romanticization is a mirage that dissipates under scrutiny. For when the actual religious affiliation of Latinos (whether in their native countries or the United States) is examined beyond the appearances, the image that emerges is quite the opposite of the one that the mitred “thieves for hire” (Inferno XIX. 4)¹ of the USCCB present to the public.

Before delving into this matter further, some terms must be clarified: for to understand the religious landscape of Latino Catholics, one must understand what the terms traditionalist, modernist, and folk signify in this religious context.

Traditional Catholicism unites a rejection of the novelties of the Second Vatican pseudo-Council with a firm adherence to the theological, philosophical, and moral traditions of the Church. Joining this is a fidelity to the sacramental and liturgical practices (predominately of the Roman Rite) that were universally accepted prior to that aforementioned pseudo-Council. In a word, only the traditionalists alone can claim to be truly Catholic.

Modernist Catholicism, also termed Novus Ordo Catholicism, entails an acceptance of the novelties of the Second Vatican pseudo-Council to at least a certain degree. Thus, there are liberal modernists and conservative modernists: both agree that the reforms were legitimate, and that the preceding traditions of the Church must be reinterpreted in the intellectual and theological framework of that pseudo-Council. The name of Catholic is only granted here to modernist Catholics since Catholicism is the religion they identify with.

Folk Catholicism involves syncretic practices that merge Catholicism with superstitious beliefs and pagan religions to varying degrees. In some cases, these practices are influenced by cults that claim no affiliation with Catholicism but have integrated some Catholic imagery and beliefs into their pandemonium, such as Santa Muerte and Candomblé. The use of “Catholicism” in the name “folk Catholicism”—as in the case of modernist Catholicism—is not an indicator of doctrinal orthodoxy. It is an identification with, not a belonging to the Catholic Church itself.

Which category then do the majority of Latinos fall into? It is certainly not traditional Catholicism. Though the SSPX and independent traditionalist groups have a presence in Latin America, their numbers must constitute a barely noticeable minority of the total religious population. Here, as elsewhere, the traditional Catholics only have some churches and schools; the dioceses and universities remain firmly in the control of modernist bishops and priests. Consequently, most baptized Latino Catholics have been raised as modernists.

This must be borne in mind when evaluating research about Latino religious affiliation, whether it concerns the Latinos of Latin America or the United States: researchers do not distinguish between modernists and traditionalists when assessing Latino religious affiliation. It can be, however, reasonably assumed that the overwhelming majority (if not the totality) of those counted in their studies and polls as “Catholics” are modernists in reality. In fact, the data these researchers have gathered clearly suggests this. For instance, in their 2026 report on Latin American religious affiliation, Pew Research reports that:²

Catholics and religiously unaffiliated adults in Latin America are generally more likely than Protestants to believe that parts of nature – such as mountains, rivers or trees – can have spirits or spiritual energies. For example, in Brazil, roughly six-in-ten Catholics and “nones” believe that spirits can inhabit parts of nature, while about half of Protestants say the same.

It should be evident to anyone knowledgeable enough that Catholicism condemns such superstitious folk beliefs as violations of the First Commandment, yet these Latin American “Catholics” are “generally more likely than Protestants” to hold them. For the most part, Traditional Catholics shun superstition. And though even the Catechism of the Postconciliar Church condemns the divination of nature as superstition,³ in practice such beliefs are accommodated by the Vatican. One only needs to be reminded of the Amazon synod, and the scandal of Pope Francis bowing before the Pachamama idol—an idol of the Incan earth goddess.⁴ Such a contradiction should not be entirely surprising, given that the modernist clergy are not concerned with consistency in their beliefs. They are, however, concerned with rewriting the Catholic religion to make it more “appealing” to the masses.

What are the fruits of this revisionist religion? The research is quite plain on this point: the fruits are rotten. In the aforementioned 2026 Pew Research report, which collected and analyzed data on religious affiliation in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru—Latin America’s six most populated countries—the data shows a considerable collapse in Catholic identification from the last decade. Outlining this shift, the report establishes the following:⁵

A decade ago, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru all had Catholic majorities, with roughly six-in-ten or more adults in each country identifying as Catholic.

Today, roughly half of Brazilians and Chileans identify as Catholic (46% each in 2024), while Argentina (58%), Colombia (60%), Mexico (67%) and Peru (67%) have much smaller Catholic majorities than they did in 2013-14.

The 2020s, then, has seen Brazil and Chile lose their self-identified Catholic majorities. At this pace, the others will soon follow in this trend.

These shocking developments, however, ought not to be seen as entirely novel. For the authors of this study include this illuminating piece of historical context:⁶

Catholicism has been declining in all these countries at least since the 1970s, according to estimates from the World Religion Database.

It is no mere accident that this collapse began with a decline in the 1970s; this was the decade that saw the birth of the bastardized New Mass and full implementation of the Second Vatican pseudo-Council. The reversal of the Catholic majorities in these countries follows from the inherent worldliness of modernism—for if the Church is to reinterpret her doctrines according to those of the sons of Cain, then why should the daughters of Seth refuse to marry themselves to the doctrines of infidelity? Why should they refuse to produce spiritual bastards? Why should the faithful remain, if those appointed by God proclaim the dignity of man above the dignity of God?

These conclusions all follow from the principles of modernism, which is essentially the invalid marriage of secular humanism to the Catholic religion. It is the betrayal of the modernist clergy—the modern Judas Iscariots—who are to be blamed first and foremost, not only for the loss of so many who have thrown off even the name of Catholic, but also for those who still use that name while holding on to perverse doctrines that exclude them from it.

As much as this shift can be lamented, one must also examine the circumstances at present. What do these former self-identified Catholics profess? Though some would assume that they mostly convert to Protestantism, out of the countries in this study only Brazil meets this criteria.⁷ In the other countries, the majority of this demographic becomes religiously unaffiliated. Though religious non-affiliation in Europe and the United States is typified by agnosticism or atheism, it is quite different in Latin America, as the majority of the religiously unaffiliated in that part of the world profess a belief in God.⁸ It therefore can be deduced that Latin America is no longer monolithically Catholic; it is religiously pluralistic, being largely split between modernist Catholicism, Protestantism, and religious non-affiliation.

Nor can American Latinos be accurately characterized as a monolithically Catholic demographic. Like their counterparts in Latin America, many Latinos in the U.S. increasingly no longer identify as Catholic; and mirroring that region of the world, the majority of those who have left become religiously unaffiliated, though a considerable number convert to Protestantism. As a 2023 Pew Research report on U.S. Latino religious affiliation reports:⁹

Nearly a quarter of all U.S. Hispanics are former Catholics: While about two-thirds of Hispanic adults (65%) say they were raised Catholic, 43% say they are currently Catholic, according to the 2022 survey. And for every 23 Latinos who have left the Catholic Church, only one has converted to Catholicism.

By contrast, the religiously unaffiliated have experienced the biggest gains. Fewer Latinos say they were raised with no religious affiliation (13%) than currently identify as unaffiliated (30%). For every Latino raised without a religious affiliation who has joined a religion in adulthood (totaling 3% of all Latino adults), about seven Latinos have left their childhood religion and become unaffiliated (20%).

This eye-opening data furthermore implies that American Latinos are not necessarily abandoning Catholic identity as a result of uniquely American pressures. The causes of this sorry trend in both the United States and Latin America are not, it must be stressed, identical. For though modernist clergy are indeed a grave factor in the apostasy in both lands, the relationship between Church and State—another grave factor—cannot be ruled out. In this regard, the Latin American states have neither historically united in forming confessional states, nor have all historically followed the American secularist model. Yet, it was the modernists who forced upon the confessional Catholic Latin American states, such as Brazil and Colombia, to adopt the Americanist heresy of “liberty of conscience”. And what ill fruit has that produced! That is why, in the end, the trends resemble one another: it is the same demographic of people under the influence of the same false principles, by means of the cooperation between the modernist clergy and the secular state.

It is, then, a fallacy to speak of Latin America today as a bulwark of Catholicism. Modernism has made a colossal wreck upon this part of the Catholic world as it has upon other parts; the veneer of cultural Catholicism, which many Latinos possess, must not be seen as a sign of actual Catholic affiliation or orthodoxy. This demographic, then, cannot be possibly tasked with the conversion of the United States—physicians, heal thyselves! The Latinos who adhere to traditional Catholicism, whether in their homelands or in the United States, would do the world far better if they were to remain or return to their countries to stem the tide of their people’s apostasy. Let this small group embrace the spirit of Gideon’s army or the Spartan three hundred; let them revive the Catholic Faith of their fathers and ours in the lands native to them.

On the other hand, what then is to be done for the vast majority of Latinos in the United States? Here it must be specified that this question concerns those who have immigrated to this country or are descended from those who have done so, not the Latino families whose presence in the Southwest predates American sovereignty over those territories. Their situation is an entirely different matter. As for the Latino immigrants and their descendants, the matter is plain: we Catholic Americans ought to have no scruples about supporting the removal of such persons from our soil, for their claims to us on grounds of religion are only nominal claims; they are claims in name only. Let us recognize the USCCB’s pathetic moralizing to the contrary as what it is—a damnable lie to justify the lucrative human trafficking operations of their “Catholic” charities¹⁰ and their eager complicity in the demographic replacement of the American people!

1. Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno. Translated by John Ciardi. The Divine Comedy. New American Library. 2003. p. 149.

2. 
   Lesage, Kirsten, et al. “Catholicism Has Declined in Latin America Over the Past Decade.” Pew Research Center. 21 Jan. 2026. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/01/21/catholicism-has-declined-in-latin-america-over-the-past-decade/.

3. 
   Catechism of the Catholic Church. Vatican.
   https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_two/chapter_one/article_1/iii_you_shall_have_no_other_gods_before_me.html.

4. “Some characteristics of pantheistic pre-Columbian religion have survived in the Indigenous communities of the Altiplano, especially the worship of Pachamama, the goddess of the Earth.”

   “Bolivia – Andes, Amazon, Altiplano.” Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/Bolivia/The-Valles-and-the-Oriente#ref1272243.

5. Lesage, Kirsten, et al. “Catholicism Has Declined in Latin America Over the Past Decade.” Pew Research Center. 21 Jan. 2026. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/01/21/catholicism-has-declined-in-latin-america-over-the-past-decade/.

6. Ibid.

7. “Brazil is the only country surveyed where former Catholics are more likely to now be Protestant (13% of all adults) than to be religiously unaffiliated (7%).”

   Ibid.

8. “…the vast majority of adults in every Latin American country surveyed say they believe in God – with percentages ranging from 89% in Chile to 98% in Brazil. Even among religiously unaffiliated adults, majorities say they believe in God. For example, about three-quarters of ‘nones’ in Mexico say they believe in God.“

   Ibid.

9. “Among U.S. Latinos, Catholicism Continues to Decline but Is Still the Largest Faith.” Pew Research Center. 13 Apr. 2023. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/04/13/among-u-s-latinos-catholicism-continues-to-decline-but-is-still-the-largest-faith/.

10. See for reference:

    Mangiaracina, Emily. “Complicit Clergy accuses church of facilitating illegal immigration, enabling human trafficking.” LifeSiteNews. 15 Feb. 2022. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/complicit-clergy-accuses-church-of-facilitating-illegal-immigration-enabling-human-trafficking/.