In the Pope’s homeland, there is a woman who believes in angels and calls them aliens. Another proudly identifies as a witch. And there’s a spiritual guru so discouraged by the opulence of the Vatican that he left the Church to help others connect spiritually outside of organized religion.
All three are former Catholics who have joined many other Argentines in the growing ranks of the religiously unaffiliated. Known as “nones,” they identify as atheist, agnostic, spiritual but not religious, or simply nothing in particular.
Pablo Robles says a better label for him would be “everything”, since he has a rich spiritual life outside of religion.
Robles grew up Catholic but became disenchanted when he visited the Vatican during the Great Jubilee in 2000. At a papal mass, he listened to a sermon on humility – and wondered how the vast wealth of the Church was conflicted with this message.
“I was next to a column of gold bigger than my apartment,” Robles said. “It upset me so much that I said, ‘That’s not the truth. They talk about one thing and do another.’ “
Back in Argentina, he began looking for answers in astrology, Buddhism and Sufism, the mystical side of Islam. He now uses music, yoga and reiki to help others connect spiritually.
“It’s increasing because it’s a time when structures and institutions are no longer consistent and people need freedom instead of public approval of an institution,” he said. declared after meditating at a Zen Buddhist temple in Brazil, where he teaches meditation and yoga. .
Most Latin Americans are Christian and Catholicism remains the dominant religion; about two-thirds of Argentina’s 45 million people identify as Catholic. But the influence of the Church has diminished. There is discontent following clergy sex abuse scandals and opposition to the Church’s stances against abortion and LGBTQ rights.
More and more Argentines are now seeking spiritual answers beyond the Church – in yoga, tarot, astrology and beliefs outside religion.
“The growth in the number of people without a religion in the pope’s country is very striking,” said Hugo Rabbia, professor of political psychology at the National University of Córdoba.
He said the percentage of people who do not identify with any religion in Argentina has doubled over the past 15 years. This is similar to what is happening in the United States and other countries.
“This coincides with a series of public debates on sexual and reproductive rights that have strongly influenced some people’s stance towards traditional religions,” Rabbia said.
Mgr. Sergio Buenanueva, bishop of Argentina’s Cordoba province, said the Church must be less critical and more tolerant to reach out to the dispossessed, especially young people, and bring them back.
“We have to be where the young people are,” he said. “It is a ministry of presence, of proximity, of support. Do not approach them with the attitude of judges who come to judge moral behavior.”
Disenchantment with the Church led some to officially leave Catholicism, notably Lin Pao Rafetta. He is part of the Argentine Coalition for a Secular State which leads a movement against apostasy.
“I began to have a series of reasons to abandon the institution,” said Rafetta, who was fired from a Jesuit university as an art history professor after renouncing her faith in a “collective apostasy”. Other Argentines have also signed waivers.
Rabbia said many among the growing ranks of the no-nos retain certain beliefs without being part of the Church.
“There is a growing group of people connected to new spiritualities,” he added.
This is evident at Argentina’s spiritual center, Capilla del Monte. The city in Córdoba province, located about 800 kilometers northwest of Buenos Aires, is known for attracting powerful energy, and even, some say, extraterrestrial activity.
A group recently gathered on a plateau overlooking Uritorco Hill, where some believe an alien city is buried. Passing around condor feathers, Fabian Kloss danced around a bonfire to the sound of drums before meditating inside a pyramid.
“Seven years ago I started this spiritual journey when I came to Capilla looking for UFOs,” said Kloss, who attended Catholic school but left religion to pursue a spiritual path. “I felt so much peace, love and goodness here, and I realized that I was not looking for UFOs, but for meaning in life.”
Similar searches attract spiritual tourists from far and wide. Neiva Santos, a Brazilian architect, distanced herself from Catholicism at the age of 30.
She recently led a retreat at Capilla del Monte with Brazilians who woke at dawn to meditate in a maze of white rocks.
“Religion has always been something that has not allowed me to be who I really am…it has always been about control, always about sin, always about guilt over some of the best things in life” , Santos said.
“You pray: ‘Holy Father, who art in heaven.’ And he’s not there. It’s inside, right here,” she said, pointing to her heart.
Respect for all people and their beliefs is crucial, Santos said. “My religion is me and my divinity is here, in me.”
It was a spiritual quest that brought Daniel Brower from Texas to settle here more than two decades ago. Dreamcatchers and Tibetan Buddhist flags left by visitors decorate her home; a multilingual sign reads: “May Peace Reign on Earth.” Brower’s siblings still attend his old church in Dallas. Instead, he focused on spirituality through sound healing.
“Spirituality is why we are here,” said the self-described hippie with a long white beard. “To remind us who we are…that we are part of the universe.”
A few miles away, along a dirt road, is Miryam Dietrich’s house, overlooking a grassy area where some believe a spaceship landed. Dietrich says she has had several encounters with beings from an underground city believed to be nearby.
“What different religions call angels are more advanced civilizations, some intra-terrestrial, some extra-terrestrial,” said Dietrich, a lawyer who grew up in a conservative Catholic family. “Some come from this solar system… preventing the destruction of Earth.”
It also accepts ancestral indigenous knowledge that sees God or divine power manifesting in nature.
“God is the wind, the trees, the animals,” she said. “He is everywhere.”
Ana Ottobre, 27, grew up singing in a Catholic choir on Saturdays and attending mass on Sundays. But she felt restricted: “I wanted to get a tattoo and my grandmother said, ‘It’s from the devil. Your body is sacred. God wouldn’t approve.'”
At 18, she decided against confirmation. She became a tattoo artist and now proudly identifies as a witch; she has tattoos on her legs of a witch and a black cat.
“This whole holistic world is made up of beautiful people who are seeking personal growth,” she said. “There’s this tendency to want to improve yourself and help others on their spiritual path.”
Argentina shares many historical and cultural similarities with its neighbor, Uruguay. Their capitals, Buenos Aires and Montevideo, are located on the banks of the Plat River where tango was born in the 19th century. Both nations cherish gaucho or cowboy culture; some people worship football as a quasi-religion. But religiosity is significantly different on the other side of the river.
“It’s surprising that people attribute everything to God,” said Fabian Alvarez, a garbage collector and atheist, while fishing on the Uruguayan side. “It’s surprising that in a football match someone asks God to stop a penalty shot.”
In Uruguay, home to 3.3 million people, more than half identify as religiously unaffiliated – the highest proportion in Latin America.
“It’s incredible for anyone who sees this from the outside, but for us it’s obvious,” said Valentina Pereira, a professor at the Catholic University of Uruguay.
“Religion obviously does not occupy an important place in Uruguayan society.”
Uruguay has a long history of secularization. In the early 20th century, the country banned any mention of God in oaths of office and removed crucifixes from public hospitals, Pereira said. Then the holidays were secularized. While Holy Week is the most sacred time of the year for many people around the world, in Uruguay it is known as Tourism Week. Christmas? It’s family day.
“Secularism… is sacred to Uruguayans,” she said.
Juan Bucio, a Catholic working in a bookstore in Montevideo, says he feels alone. Not all of his colleagues are, but he always keeps a holy card of Saint Maria Francesca Rubatto, an Italian nun and the first saint of Uruguay. “It’s a difficult place to practice religion.”
A few blocks away, the Rev. Bernardo Techera greeted the few parishioners entering the cathedral for mass.
“In Uruguay, the priest has no prestige,” Techera said. The advantage, he says, is that those who are religious are deeply committed. “You really live this religion. It’s a personal decision, not a social imposition.”
Juan Castelli, a software engineer from Montevideo, remembers reading the Bible and praying until age 15, when he stopped believing in God.
“I don’t know anyone who goes to church,” said Castelli, a former Catholic. He acknowledged that some churches help those struggling with poverty and addiction. But religions, he said, can be harmful, especially when mixed with politics.
Not far from Montevideo lives Uruguay’s best-known atheist: former president José Mujica. Now 88 years old, Mujica has earned respect around the world and across the political spectrum with his simplicity. The former guerrilla leader and Nobel Peace Prize candidate donated most of his salary to charity and refused to live in the presidential palace.
Interviewed at his flower farm, he reflected on the global rise of non-religious people.
“I view all religions as very arrogant because the scale of the universe is so brutal, and yet they try to put humans as the epicenter.” » said Mujica. “Since we don’t want to die, we have to build something that creates the illusion that everything doesn’t end there… I believe we come from nothing. Heaven, but also hell, is here.”