Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
pope
Maria Vasquez Guzman attends Mass at the Carmel Mission Basilica in Carmel, California. Photograph: Michael Fiala/Reuters
Maria Vasquez Guzman attends Mass at the Carmel Mission Basilica in Carmel, California. Photograph: Michael Fiala/Reuters

For US Latinos Pope Francis's visit could not have come at a better time

This article is more than 8 years old

Xenophobic rhetoric in Republican presidential politics has left many US Latinos feeling beaten down – but the pope showered them with love

Of all the public words Pope Francis could have chosen to start his remarks at the White House podium on Wednesday, the Argentinian son of Italian immigrants reminded America that “As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families.” It was a message the resonated with US Latinos – many of whom see the world’s first Latin American pope as the anti-Donald Trump.

Then, when a five-year-old US citizen girl born to undocumented parents stopped the papal parade to deliver a letter calling for immigration reform and was allowed to do so, the pope’s message of solidarity with immigrants resonated even more.

The pope was even more pointed in his remarks to Congress on Thursday, when he admonished them to treat people seeking refuge in America with humanity instead of fear: “We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation.”

He added, in what could only be a pointed response to Republican politicians calling for the closure of America’s borders for its security and prosperity that “if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities.”

The Latin American immigrant pope showering Latin American immigrants with love could not have come at a better time: US Latinos have been feeling beaten down from xenophobic rhetoric that continues to dominate Republican presidential politics. It is no wonder Pope Francis is seen as a very popular figure with Latinos, both old and young.

Yet Francis has a somewhat complicated past in Latin America, from allegations of complicity during Argentina’s military dictatorship in late 1970s to his lack of support for the more progressive liberation theology doctrine that influenced many Latin American clergy fighting against the region’s militaristic era, which his later evolution to the Buenos Aires archbishop who took the bus to work and is more comfortable with the poor than with the powerful hasn’t erased. The question for all Latinos, then, is whether the rising popularity of “the people’s pope” reflects a new chapter for a more humanistic Catholic Church. or whether the Vatican going into survival mode by aggressively marketing a Latin American pope to a continually growing US Latino Catholic population.

In some ways, the pope’s actions can seem contradictory. For example, the pope should be commended for saying that US bishops showed “courage” for addressing the Church’s sexual abuse scandal, yet just this past spring he was criticised by his own sexual abuse advisory board for giving a diocese position to a Chilean bishop accused on covering up another similar scandal. Furthermore, while many Latin Americans and US Latinos are applauding the pope for promoting the beatification of Archbishop Óscar Romero – a champion of liberation theology who was killed in 1980 by a death squad in El Salvador – just as many are condemning him for canonizing 18th Spanish missionary Junípero Serra, whose conversion of Native Americans in California was marred by violence and death.

Still, in the eyes of many US Latinos, Pope Francis (or “Panchito” as one devout follower lovingly calls him) is the real deal, and is having a decided effect.

“Here we have someone, who I think is making an invitation, a radical invitation to say, ‘If you’re going to be an authentic Catholic, let’s be a real one,” Dr. Hoffsman Ospino, Assistant Professor of Hispanic Ministry and Religious Education at Boston College, told Hinojosa during an appearance on NPR’s Latino USA.“And if that translates into numbers in churches, fine. If it doesn’t, you know, most likely we’re not living what we’re supposed to be living.”

Data from Pew released in anticipation of the pope’s US visit corroborates what Dr. Ospino is saying about “authentic Catholics” and US Latinos: unlike many of their white Catholic counterparts, “Latino Catholics tend to be more aligned with the church” and its views on a host of issues.

For instance, according to Pew, 59% Latinos believe “homosexual behavior is sinful” with 25% “saying it is not”. When it comes to gay marriage, “Hispanic Catholics are less supportive of gay marriage being recognized by the church.” Even when it comes to climate change – another topic Pope Francis is focusing on this week in the US – “Latino Catholics are more likely to say working to address climate change is an essential part of their Catholic identity (40%, vs 22% of white Catholics).”

Then there is cultural connection a pope from the Americas touring America is making with US Latinos.

“I think the reason why a lot of Latinos connect with Pope Francis is because he is from Latin America. He does speak our idioma (language),” Diana Aguirre-Rosales, whose marriage was blessed by Pope Francis in the Vatican, said last week. “This is the first time that it’s happened. Our family has always supported the Pope regardless, but having that deeper connection because he is from Latin America just makes that connection a lot stronger.”

But will those connections endure? Maybe: as long as “Panchito” continues to push the messages that are strike a chord with US Latino Catholics, it is not far-fetched to say that this 21st century pope could go down as the most transformative leader the Church and its faithful in the Americas have ever seen.

Most viewed

Most viewed