In Brazil, the frantic race for “the largest Catholic statue in the world”
As the number of Catholics plummets, many Brazilian communities are relying on the construction of monumental religious statues. More than a symbol, these colossi attract more visitors and embody a new cultural appropriation by increasingly influential evangelicals. Report from “El País América.”
Christ the Redeemer with outstretched arms above Rio de Janeiro is Brazil's most iconic statue, but now there are competitors. The country is currently experiencing a frenzy to build the world's largest Catholic statue, with a multitude of projects across the country, from saints and virgins to more or less successful imitations of the Christ of Corcovado .
A phenomenon that coincides with an undeniable decline of Catholicism in the country with the largest number of Catholics in the world.
In 2010, Catholics made up 65.1% of the population, but by 2022 they had fallen to 56.7%, from 105.4 million to 100.2 million Brazilians – the lowest figure since records began, according to the most recent official census data, released earlier this month.
Every year, more than 430,000 Brazilians leave the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church. You'd hardly believe it, considering monuments like the Christ of Encantado, a town of just over 20,000 inhabitants in the far south of the country. Since 2022, this town has boasted the world's largest Christ statue: 1,700 tons, 43.5 meters tall, five times taller than the famous Christ of Rio.
This Christ has
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