Catedral Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Plaza Las Delicias, Ponce, Puerto Rico, mirando al noreste (Ponce002)

The Catholic Church in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

is part of the worldwide

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

in communion with the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. The 78 municipalities in Puerto Rico have a Catholic Church which is located in the downtown area, normally across from the central plaza.

History

In Puerto Rico, the founding of a town (or municipio) very much depended on the building of a church, a town hall, a butcher's shop and a cemetery. The citizens of the town constructed and decorated the church. As was customary in Spain, in Puerto Rico, the municipality has a barrio called ''pueblo'' until it was called ''barrio-pueblo'' in 1990 by the US Census. The barrio-pueblo of a ''municipio'' contains a central plaza, the municipal buildings (city hall), and a Catholic church. Central Square, Adjuntas, Puerto Rico

It is near the church, which fronts the town's plaza, that '' Fiestas patronales'' (patron saint festivals) are held in every year. The

Laws of the Indies The Laws of the Indies ( es, Leyes de las Indias) are the entire body of laws issued by the Spanish Crown for the American and the Asian possessions of its empire. They regulated social, political, religious, and economic life in these areas. T ...

, Spanish law, which regulated life in Puerto Rico in the early 19th century, stated the plaza's purpose was for "the parties" (celebrations, festivities) ( es, a propósito para las fiestas), and that the square was to be proportionally large enough for the number of neighbors ( es, grandeza proporcionada al número de vecinos). These Spanish regulations also stated that the streets nearby should be comfortable portals for passersby, protecting them from the elements: sun and rain. The church buildings themselves have been restored many times over the years and are an important part of Puerto Rico's architectural history. During Puerto Rico's transition from Spanish rule to United States rule in the late 19th century and early 20th century, the Roman Catholic Church laid claim to many properties located in Puerto Rico. An agreement was reached and a payment of $180,000 was made in three equal installments to the Roman Catholic Church for the properties. Juan Perpiña y Pibernat was the priest who presided over the church in Puerto Rico during that time of transition. Henry K. Carroll, Special Commissioner for the United States studied the situation in Puerto Rico and reported back that up until then, black clerics () had been prohibited by Spain. Further analysis by Samuel Silva Gotay says that the church had chosen to ally with the

hacienda An ''hacienda'' ( or ; or ) is an estate (or '' finca''), similar to a Roman '' latifundium'', in Spain and the former Spanish Empire. With origins in Andalusia, ''haciendas'' were variously plantations (perhaps including animals or orchard ...

owners more than with the common people before, during and after slavery had been abolished.

Present situation

The CIA World Factbook reports that 85% of the population of Puerto Rico is Catholic, with the remaining 15% divided among Protestantism, Islam, and Judaism. However, the CIA report provides no date or source for the data; it may be outdated. Some sources, including

Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank (referring to itself as a "fact tank") based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and th ...

, put the Catholic percentage at approximately 70%. An

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

article in March 2014 stated that "more than 70 percent of whom identify themselves as Catholic" but provided no source for this information (they may have used the 2010 Pew Research data). However, in a November 2014 report, with the sub-title ''Widespread Change in a Historically Catholic Region'', Pew Research indicated that only 56% of Puerto Ricans were Catholic and that 33% were Protestant; this survey was completed between October 2013 and February 2014. When discussing Catholicism in Puerto Rico, Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves of San Juan offered this comment in 2007. "Its deepest roots are Latino ... U.S. rule began in 1898, at the end of the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

, but indigenous, African and Spanish cultures "shaped its identity for 400 years" and that influence "cannot be undone overnight”. The shift from Spanish to U.S. rule brought a wave of anti-Catholic sentiment that led to the prohibition of the processions that are a mainstay of Latin American religious practice, as well as government policies that prohibited schools from teaching in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

. Since the approval of the Puerto Rican Constitution in 1952, popular religious traditions such as processions and festivals honoring communities'

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

s have taken root again. There is also a Byzantine Catholic community of the St. Spyridon Parish in

Trujillo Alto Trujillo Alto (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Northern Coastal Plain, on the boundary between the karst zone and Sierra de Luquillo, north of Caguas, and Gurabo; southeast of San Juan, and west of Carolina. Trujil ...

under the jurisdiction of Archbishop

Roberto González Nieves Roberto Octavio González Nieves, O.F.M. (born June 2, 1950) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been serving as archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Juan in Puerto Rico since 1999. González previously served as an auxili ...

List of dioceses

Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico ( la, Archidiœcesis Sancti Joannis Portoricensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States, comprising the northeast portion of the island o ...

* Diocese of Arecibo * Diocese of Caguas * Diocese of Mayagüez * Diocese of Ponce * Diocese of Fajardo-Humacao – erected March 2008

Individual churches

Municipality parishes

Catedral Metropolitana Basílica de San Juan Bautista (San Juan, Puerto Rico) The Catedral Basílica Metropolitana de San Juan Bautista, or in English, Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Saint John the Baptist, is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico. The cathedral is one of the old ...

, San Juan *San Lorenzo- Parroquia Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes *San Sebastián- Parroquia San Sebastián Mártir *Santa Isabel- Parroquia Santiago Apostol *Toa Alta- Parroquia San Fernando Rey *Toa Baja- Parroquia San Pedro Apostol *Trujillo Alto- Parroquia Exaltación de la Santa Cruz *Utuado- Parroquia San Miguel *Vega Alta- Parroquia Inmaculada Concepción *Vega Baja- Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Rosario *Vieques- Parroquia Inmaculada Concepción *Villalba- Parroquia Nuestra Señora del Carmen *Yabucoa- Parroquia Santos Ángeles Custodios *Yauco- Parroquia Santísimo Rosario

Other churches

* Iglesia Santa María Reina, in Ponce * Porta Coeli, in San Germán *

Church of San Mateo de Cangrejos of Santurce Church of San Mateo de Cangrejos of Santurce () was first built in 1832 as a chapel. In 1896, State Architect Pedro Cobreros, who designed other churches in Puerto Rico, reconstructed its facade and enlarged the interior. The church is different ...

, in Santurce, San Juan * Nuestra Señora de Lourdes Chapel, in Santurce, San Juan *

San José Church San José Church ( es, Iglesia de San José), located in Old San Juan within the historic colonial zone of the capital of Puerto Rico, is one of the first significant works of architecture on the island. The church is one of the earliest surviving ...

, in San Juan

Archdiocese of San Juan bankruptcy

On January 11, 2018 Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of San Juan filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, stating that the current pension plan was unworkable and applied for a new plan which has an estimated $10 million in assets and $10 million in liabilities. On March 27, 2018, local Judge Anthony Cuevas issued an embargo against the Archdiocese of San Juan which would remain in effect until they could find $4.7 million to pay for the teachers pension. It was also ruled that the Catholic Church in Puerto Rico was a single entity and that the embargo would apply to all the

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandri ...

s of the Archdiocese of San Juan. On August 30, 2018, the Archdiocese of San Juan filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, noting that they were unable to find the $4.7 million. Federal Judge Edward Godoy protected the Archdiocese under Chapter 11, paralyzing the seizure of assets and helping them avoid the owed retirement payments. However, it was also ruled that the bankruptcy would apply to all the other Catholic dioceses in Puerto Rico.

Episcopal conference

The bishops in Puerto Rico form the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference ( es, Conferencia Episcopal Puertorriqueña). The

episcopal conference An episcopal conference, sometimes called a conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to ...

allows the bishops to set certain norms for all of Puerto Rico, including the form of the

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

References

External links

Conferencia Episcopal Puertorriqueña (C.E.P.)
GCatholic.org website {{DEFAULTSORT:Catholic Church In Puerto Rico

Christianity in Puerto Rico