Popular Catholicism In The Early Colonial Period

Popular Catholicism in the early colonial period was striving and beginning to emerge. It is through religion and religious beliefs that culture that members of social groups attempt to make sense of the world. According to Sanabria, “In many ways, Latin American and Caribbean peoples who came under the sway of the Spanish and Portuguese have been largely catholic since the early colonial period”(Sanabria, p. 182). A reason that explains the emergence of this is due to religious persecution through the campaigns against idolatry. European secular and religious colonizers engaged in widespread campaigns against what they considered idols and sacred worship places. One strategy to help with the spread of popular Catholicism was to erect churches over the ruins of pre-Conquest indigenous temples and shrines. …show more content…
Catholic clergy attempted to spread Christianity by focusing more on Catholic sacraments that resembled other rituals. Many different strands of Catholicism existed however they shared and continue to share much in common. It is this widely shared yet varied religious system that emerged from the fusion of medieval Catholicism and diverse indigenous and African traditions. According to Sanabria, “Popular Catholicism tends to lack a concept of salvation, and its idea of sin is at variance with orthodox theology”(Sanabria, p. 183). Along with this in popular Catholicism the sacraments receive not much emphasis and the priest is looked at as principally functionary of the Church, not as a mediator with