Religion in Paraguay
Encyclopedia
The religious identities of the people of Paraguay
, or Religion in Paraguay for short, have since national independence been oriented towards the Christian
faith, and specifically the Roman Catholic Church
. In the most recent census (2002), Paraguayans of all ages 10 and older had their religious identities enumerated, and 89.6% were classified as Catholics.
Self-identification of Paraguayans with no established religion is quite low by worldwide standards, with only 1.14% of respondents enumerated as possessing no religious identity.
After centuries of Christian missionary
activity, identification with the traditional indigenous
faiths of the Paraguay region is even less, with 0.61% of respondents enumerated as possessing an indigenous religious identity.
As compared with other nations of the Western Hemisphere
, immigration to Paraguay has been very low in recent decades and very few Paraguayans identify with the non-Christian faiths founded in the Eastern Hemiphere. For example, in the 2002 enumeration only 0.02% of the Paraguayans counted called themselves Muslim
s.
As can be seen below, the majority of Paraguayans are Roman Catholic, although the percentage of Paraguayans who identify themselves as Catholic has dropped slightly. There has been a corresponding growth in the influence of Evangelical churches in recent years. There are a number of Indigenous religions and there are also Buddhist (probably due to immigration from Korea), Jewish and Muslim communities in the country.
NB:
Catholicism has long been the most important religion in Paraguay, the Bishopric of Asunción was created in 1547. The majority of government officials are Catholics and a number of Catholic festivals are public holidays (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Feast of The Assumption of the Virgen Mary [15 August], Feast of The Immaculate Conception [8 December] and Christmas.
Many people mark the Feast of the Immaculate Conception with a pilgrimage to Caacupé
. The Basilica of Caccupe contains a statuette of Our Lady of the Miracles. Pope John Paul II visited Caacupe in 1987.
The Church maintains the Universidad Católica "Nuestra Señora de la Asunción".
in Paraguay begins after `Abdu'l-Bahá
, then head of the religion, mentioned the country in 1916. Paraguayan Maria Casati was the first to join the religion in 1939 when living in Buenos Aires. The first pioneer
to settle in Paraguay was Elizabeth Cheney late in 1940 and the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Asunción
was elected in 1944. By 1961 Paraguayan Bahá'ís had elected the first National Spiritual Assembly and by 1963 there were 3 local assemblies plus other communities. Recent estimates of Bahá'ís mention 5500 or 13000 though the state Census doesn't mention the Bahá'ís.
Ashkenazi Jews from the Ukraine and Poland founded the Unión Hebraica in the 1920s, while in the 1930s between 15,000 and 20,000 refugees from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia fled to Paraguay to escape the holocaust. Many of these later moved on to Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Those who remained were later joined by immigrants who were mostly survivors of the concentration camps.
Today, the Jewish community has around a 1000 members who live mainly in Asunción. There is a Jewish school Escuela Integral Estado de Israel. Asunción has three synagogues: Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Chabad and a Jewish museum.
The 1992 census recorded 872 Muslims in Paraguay 486 of which were in the Alto Parana department, the capital of which is Ciudad del Este. There are also communities in Asunción and Itapua (the capital fo which is Encarnación). As in other parts of Latin America, many of these are descended from immigrants from Syria and Lebanon, though some may also be from Bangladesh and Pakistan
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims more than 70,000 members in Paraguay. 147 congregations of the Church meet in Paraguay.
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, or Religion in Paraguay for short, have since national independence been oriented towards the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
faith, and specifically the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
. In the most recent census (2002), Paraguayans of all ages 10 and older had their religious identities enumerated, and 89.6% were classified as Catholics.
Self-identification of Paraguayans with no established religion is quite low by worldwide standards, with only 1.14% of respondents enumerated as possessing no religious identity.
After centuries of Christian missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
activity, identification with the traditional indigenous
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
faiths of the Paraguay region is even less, with 0.61% of respondents enumerated as possessing an indigenous religious identity.
As compared with other nations of the Western Hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
, immigration to Paraguay has been very low in recent decades and very few Paraguayans identify with the non-Christian faiths founded in the Eastern Hemiphere. For example, in the 2002 enumeration only 0.02% of the Paraguayans counted called themselves Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s.
Current Situation
According to article 24 of the Paraguayan Constitution of 1992, freedom of religion is recognised and there is no official religion. Relations between the State and the Catholic Church are to be based on independence, co-operation and autonomy. The independence of religious organisations is guaranteed.As can be seen below, the majority of Paraguayans are Roman Catholic, although the percentage of Paraguayans who identify themselves as Catholic has dropped slightly. There has been a corresponding growth in the influence of Evangelical churches in recent years. There are a number of Indigenous religions and there are also Buddhist (probably due to immigration from Korea), Jewish and Muslim communities in the country.
Religions in Paraguay according to 2002 and 1992 censuses http://www.dgeec.gov.py
The 2002 census counted 5,163,198 people in Paraguay but the question about religion was meant only for those aged 10 or older, namely 3,892,603 persons.| Religion | Number of followers 2002 | Percentage 2002 | Number of followers 1992 | Percentage 1992 | Change 1992-2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catholicism | 3,488,086 | 89.61% | 2,749,888 | 93.25% | -3.64% |
| Indigenous & Catholic | 223 | 0.01 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Orthodox | 25 | <0.00% | N/A | N\A | N/A |
| Russian (Orthodox) | 470 | 0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Other Orthodox | 950 | 0.02% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Anglicanism | 1,858 | 0.05% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Indigenous & Anglican | 29 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Lutheran | 8,849 | 0.23% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Presbyterian | 276 | 0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Mennonites | 8,445 | 0.22% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Indigenous & Mennonite | 8 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Traditional Christianity* (excl. Catholicism) | 21,133 | 0.54% | 14,497 | 0.49% | +0.05% |
| Christian and Missionary Alliance | 87 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Assemblies of God | 9,879 | 0.25% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Maranatha Baptist Church | 10,355 | 0.27% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Centro familiar de adoración aposent. | 513 | 0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Comunidad Cristiana | 1,046 | 0.03% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Plymouth Brethren - Open Brothers | 665 | 0.02% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Independent | 7 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Church of God (Pentecostal) | 1,550 | 0.04% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Church of God of Prophecy (Pentecostal) | 149 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Methodists | 451 | 0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Free Methodists | 156 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Church of the Nazarene | 86 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Neotestamentaria (Baptist) | 276 | 0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Pentecostal | 8,631 | 0.22% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Other Evangelical | 186,107 | 4.78% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Seventh Day Adventist | 7,804 | 0.20% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Dios es Amor (Pentecostal) | 1,290 | 0.03% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Universal Church of the Kingdom of God | 714 | 0.02% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Unification Church | 116 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) | 9,374 | 0.24% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Pueblo de Dios | 12,114 | 0.31% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Jehovah's Witnesses | 11,805 | 0.30% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Mount Zion Church | 233 | 0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Other pseudo-Christian groups | 825 | 0.02% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Post-16th-Century Christian demoninations** | 264,233 | 6.78% | 138,573 | 4.70% | +2.08% |
| Judaism | 1,100 | 0.03% | 952 | 0.03% | - |
| Islam | 872 | 0.02% | 1,200 | 0.04% | -0.02% |
| Hinduism (Tao) | 151 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Buddhism | 2,088 | 0.05% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Reyukai | 72 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Shintoism | 30 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Bahá'í Faith | 225 | 0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| "Eastern and Cultural Religions" (excl Islam)*** | 2566 | 0.07% | 2,811 | 0.10% | -0.03% |
| Rosacrucis | 7 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Spiritualists - E.C.Basilio | 289 | 0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Umbanda | 54 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Other, Spiritualist | 66 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Mentalism | 164 | <0.01% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Indigenous Religions | 23,741 | 0.61 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Religions not included above | 1,208 | 0.03% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Unspecified other religion | 6,139 | 0.16% | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Religion not previously mentioned in 1992 Census**** | 31,668 | 0.81% | 8,152 | 0.28% | +0.53% |
| No religion | 44,334 | 1.14% | 23,236 | 0.78% | +0.36% |
| No response | 37,206 | 0.96% | 9,790 | 0.33% | +0.63% |
| Total no. of participants | 3,892,603 | 100% | 2,949,099 | 100% | - |
NB:
- Traditional Christianity taken to include Anglicanism, all branches of Orthodox Church, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism and the Mennonites - all branches that had emerged by the end of the 16th Century (except Catholicism)
- Post 16th Century Christian dominations includes: Christian and Missionary Alliance, Assemblies of God, Maranatha Baptist Church, Centro familiar de adoración aposent., Comunidad Cristiana, Plymouth Brethren - Open Brothers, Independent, Church of God (Pentecostal), Church of God of Prophecy (Pentecostal), Methodism, Free Methodism, Church of the Nazarene, Neotestimentaria (Baptist), Pentecostal, Other Evangelical, Seventh Day Adventist , Dios es Amor (Pentecostal), Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Unification Church, Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons), Pueblo de Dios, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mount Zion Church & Other pseudo-Christian groups
- Eastern and Cultural Religions includes: Hinduism (Tao), Buddhism, Reyukai, Shintoism & Bahá'í ****Religions not previously mentioned in the 1992 census include: Rosacrucis, Spiritualists - E.C.Basilio, Umbanda, Other, Spiritualist, Mentalism, Indigenous Religions, Religions not included above & Unspecified other religion
- Post 16th Century Christian dominations includes: Christian and Missionary Alliance, Assemblies of God, Maranatha Baptist Church, Centro familiar de adoración aposent., Comunidad Cristiana, Plymouth Brethren - Open Brothers, Independent, Church of God (Pentecostal), Church of God of Prophecy (Pentecostal), Methodism, Free Methodism, Church of the Nazarene, Neotestimentaria (Baptist), Pentecostal, Other Evangelical, Seventh Day Adventist , Dios es Amor (Pentecostal), Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Unification Church, Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons), Pueblo de Dios, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mount Zion Church & Other pseudo-Christian groups
Roman Catholicism in Paraguay
Main article Roman Catholicism in ParaguayRoman Catholicism in Paraguay
The Roman Catholic Church in Paraguay is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome....
Catholicism has long been the most important religion in Paraguay, the Bishopric of Asunción was created in 1547. The majority of government officials are Catholics and a number of Catholic festivals are public holidays (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Feast of The Assumption of the Virgen Mary [15 August], Feast of The Immaculate Conception [8 December] and Christmas.
Many people mark the Feast of the Immaculate Conception with a pilgrimage to Caacupé
Caacupé
Caacupé is a city and district in Paraguay. It is the capital of the department of Cordillera.The town was founded in 1770 by Carlos Murphy, a grenadier at the service of King Charles III of Spain, although a first settlement existed here from the 17th century.The city is the seat of the Roman...
. The Basilica of Caccupe contains a statuette of Our Lady of the Miracles. Pope John Paul II visited Caacupe in 1987.
The Church maintains the Universidad Católica "Nuestra Señora de la Asunción".
Bahá'í Faith in Paraguay
The Bahá'í FaithBahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
in Paraguay begins after `Abdu'l-Bahá
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
, then head of the religion, mentioned the country in 1916. Paraguayan Maria Casati was the first to join the religion in 1939 when living in Buenos Aires. The first pioneer
Pioneering (Bahá'í)
A pioneer is a volunteer Bahá'í who leaves his or her home to journey to another place for the purpose of teaching the Bahá'í Faith. The act of so moving is termed pioneering. Bahá'ís refrain from using the term "missionary"...
to settle in Paraguay was Elizabeth Cheney late in 1940 and the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Asunción
Asunción
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...
was elected in 1944. By 1961 Paraguayan Bahá'ís had elected the first National Spiritual Assembly and by 1963 there were 3 local assemblies plus other communities. Recent estimates of Bahá'ís mention 5500 or 13000 though the state Census doesn't mention the Bahá'ís.
Judaism in Paraguay
The first synagogue in Paraguay was established in 1917 by Sephardic Jews who had emigrated from Palestine, Turkey and Greece; though there had previously been some isolated Jewish settlers from Europe.Ashkenazi Jews from the Ukraine and Poland founded the Unión Hebraica in the 1920s, while in the 1930s between 15,000 and 20,000 refugees from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia fled to Paraguay to escape the holocaust. Many of these later moved on to Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Those who remained were later joined by immigrants who were mostly survivors of the concentration camps.
Today, the Jewish community has around a 1000 members who live mainly in Asunción. There is a Jewish school Escuela Integral Estado de Israel. Asunción has three synagogues: Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Chabad and a Jewish museum.
Islam in Paraguay
Main article Islam in ParaguayIslam in Paraguay
The latest statistics for Islam in Paraguay estimate a total Muslim population of 507, representing 0.008 percent of the population. Most of the Muslims are descendants of immigrants from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. The major Islamic organization in Paraguay is the Centro Benéfico Cultural...
The 1992 census recorded 872 Muslims in Paraguay 486 of which were in the Alto Parana department, the capital of which is Ciudad del Este. There are also communities in Asunción and Itapua (the capital fo which is Encarnación). As in other parts of Latin America, many of these are descended from immigrants from Syria and Lebanon, though some may also be from Bangladesh and Pakistan
Latter Day Saints in Paraguay
External links
- Paraguayan Constitution http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Paraguay/para1992.html
- Dirección General de Estádisticas y Censos http://www.dgeec.gov.py
- Virgin of Caacupé http://members.chello.nl/~l.de.bondt/LadyCaacupe.htm
- Jews of Paraguay http://haruth.com/jw/JewsParaguay.html