Pope was here

The Pope was here last week. He visited the Basilica in the city of Aparecida. He blessed 150 thousand people on Sunday. This occured at the basilica that is about 25 km from our city. Many of you have visited this basilica while visiting Pindamonhangaba. They were expecting 300.000 and about half of that number was in attendance. It shows how the influence has shifted in our region.

DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - Pope Benedict XVI hopes to stanch steady loss of followers with visit to Brazil, but some wonder whether he can speak to their needs; only two-thirds of Brazilians now consider themselves Catholics; number has been in steady decline since 1980 when 90 percent described themselves as Catholic; much of that ground has been lost to surge in Pentecostalism; losing Latin America would be substantial loss and trend is worrying to church officials; challenge from Pentacostalism is likely to be one of most important challenges of Benedict's papacy

This excerpt was from the New York Times

This is from the Brazilian News Media site Brazzil Magazine:

And he didn't spare other Christian denominations calling them sects: "Among the problems that strain your pastoral solicitude is, without a doubt, the matter of Catholics who abandon the Church... "The baptized are not sufficiently evangelized," he said, and therefore are unable to resist "the sects' aggressive proselytism" in a reference to the growth of evangelical churches in Brazil.

Interesting.