GEOG 002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Pope Francis
30 Jul 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Geo 2
World Regional Geography
Fall 2019
2:1
Religion in Contemporary Life
● Majority of the people are at least nominal Christians, most of them Roman Catholic.
● Remains highly influential and relevant to the lives of believers, it has had to contend
with popular efforts to reform it, as well as with rising competition from other religious
movements.
● The Roman Catholic Church encouraged these people to accept ehri low status in
colonial society, to Obey authority, and to postpone rewards for their hard work until
heaven.
● People throughout the region converted to the faith, some willingly and some only after
the threats, intimidation, and torture of the Spanish INquisition were brought to the
Americas.
● Social movements aimed at addressing the needs of the poor masses seized and
redistributed some church lands.
● Over the years, the Catholic Church became less obviously connected to the elite and
more attentive to the needs of poor and non-European people.
● Women were also given more of a role in religious ceremonies.
● In the 1970s, a Catholic movement known as liberation theology was begun by a small
group of priests and activists.
○ They were working to reform the church into a n institution that could combat the
extreme inequalities in wealth and power common in the region.
○ The movement portrayed Jesus Christ as a social revolutionary who symbolically
spoke out for the redistribution of wealth when he divided the loaves and fish
among the multitude.
■ The perpetuation of gross economic inequality and political repression
was viewed as sinful, and social reform as liberation from evil.
The Americas’ First Pope
● The election of Argentina’s Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to become the leader of the
Catholic Church in 2013 reflected realities both in this region and outside of it.
○ Pope Francis, is the first non-European pope in almost 13 centuries, and the first
ever from the Americas.
● Pope Francis was also elected by a group of Catholic cardinals who want to reform the
church and the Vatican bureaucracy in light of the recent financial corruption and sexual
abuse scandals that have damaged the Church’s image around the world.
Document Summary
Majority of the people are at least nominal christians, most of them roman catholic. Remains highly influential and relevant to the lives of believers, it has had to contend with popular efforts to reform it, as well as with rising competition from other religious movements. The roman catholic church encouraged these people to accept ehri low status in colonial society, to obey authority, and to postpone rewards for their hard work until heaven. People throughout the region converted to the faith, some willingly and some only after the threats, intimidation, and torture of the spanish inquisition were brought to the. Social movements aimed at addressing the needs of the poor masses seized and redistributed some church lands. Over the years, the catholic church became less obviously connected to the elite and more attentive to the needs of poor and non-european people. Women were also given more of a role in religious ceremonies.
