In Latin American politics, public piety can gain allies

Hermano Juancito and I provided some commentary to David Agren new article for the Catholic Courier on In Latin American politics, public piety can gain allies.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez often prayed publicly while campaigning for office, which he assumed Jan. 27. Shortly after the inauguration, first lady Ana Garcia de Hernandez appeared in media photos providing food for pilgrims, celebrating the Feb. 3 feast day of Our Lady of Suyapa, the national patroness.

The next day, Hernandez handed over a radio frequency to the Catholic Church for a station to be known as Suyapa FM.

Hernandez seldom shies away from public piety and leaves no doubt of his devotion and Catholic convictions. But some observers say the displays are shrewd politics -- especially as the president attempts to leverage people's religious preferences for political gain and associate his agenda with that of religious institutions. Analysts say he's linking politics and religion in an attempt to gain legitimacy -- after prevailing in the November elections with roughly 35 percent of the vote -- and trying to increase his ability to govern a country considered one of the most corrupt, poor and violent in the hemisphere.

Obviously, it is pretty tough to characterize the relationship between the Catholic Church and politics in Central America today. Some religious leaders take strong stances on political issues while some others appear to take more partisan stands. Most of the candidates are Catholic but no one is exactly the candidate of the Catholics. I don't know which candidates are Catholic for the sake of winning votes versus those that are Catholic or religious because that is who they are.

Most of the voters are Catholic, though that number is declining with the increase in Protestants. Then there's the varying degrees of religiosity that characterize people - belonging, believing (importance of religion), and behaving (attending services).