The Catholic Church never misled people with promises of wealth, which placed it at a disadvantage among the poor during the neoliberal era.
Since last year, reports have surfaced indicating a rise in conversions to Catholicism in at least three nations: Brazil, France, and the United States. This is an unusual trio, especially considering France’s typical resistance to Anglophone trends and its reluctance to emulate Brazil. Could the disastrous opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics have sparked a revival of faith? Brazil, conversely, tends to follow American patterns, but while converts there seem devoted to the austere Latin Mass, here a charismatic friar who plays acoustic guitar, sings, and hosts late-night rosary sessions on Instagram Live is making a notable impact. Given these differences, it seems that these phenomena arise from diverse factors, suggesting that Catholicism’s resurgence in these countries might be coincidental—or perhaps reflects a broader “spirit of the times.”
Among these three, the U.S. appears to have the most concrete reasons. The Daily Wire, owned by the fervent Zionist Ben Shapiro, published an article titled “The Catholic Convert Boom Is Real But A Troubling Pattern Is Emerging,” which bluntly states: “Unlike many [sic] branches of Christianity, the Catholic Church does not demand that the faithful be committed Zionists to receive God’s blessing.” This suggests that many anti-Semites are turning to Catholicism, presenting a challenge for the Church to manage.
This article appeared amid recent MAGA controversies, including the removal of Catholic convert Carrie Prejean Boller from Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission. She told Tucker Carlson that she faced persecution from Trump’s pastor, the Zionist Pythoness Paula White — the eccentric who speaks in tongues, prophesies wars, and prays for miscarriages. Her offense was tweeting about Gaza, which ignited such chaos that Bishop Barron, a Trump ally and friend of Ben Shapiro, took to Twitter to affirm that, according to Catholic teaching, Israel has the right to exist. In the U.S., pro-Israel conservatives regard the Catholic Church as a hub of anti-Semitism because Catholics criticize the mass killings in Gaza.
However, this specific dispute stems from a broader political-theological dilemma. Regardless of Carrie Prejean Boller or Paula White’s involvement, the facts stand: 1) the war against Iran began without majority public support; 2) Trump was elected on a promise to end wars; 3) the conflict was openly started to protect Israel; 4) numerous Protestant churches in the U.S. adhere to the Scofield Bible, obliging Christians to support the state established in 1948.
If the typical Trump supporter is a right-wing Protestant worker hoping for “a great America again” with jobs and stable homes instead of wars, it’s clear the war puts him at odds with his Zionist pastor who insists that American funding and soldiers’ lives be sacrificed for Israel. Tucker Carlson, an Anglican, is the most vocal MAGA leader expressing frustration with Trump. Yet the Anglican Church, likely the most progressive denomination today, cannot inspire conversions from MAGA supporters. This leaves the Catholic Church, which, alongside numerous Orthodox churches, has been attracting conservative Protestants drawn to liturgy—such as Charlie Kirk, who politically distanced himself from the Christian Zionism of his upbringing.
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I recently explored The History of Atheism, penned by atheist historian Georges Minois in the late 1990s. Covering the period from Antiquity to the 20th century, Minois concluded with dismay over the emergence of a “post-atheist” phase. The world appeared to trend towards irrational superstition and New Age beliefs, where the question of divine existence was largely ignored. His thesis proposed that atheism has always served as the religious counterpart’s foil, and that the dialectic between rational religious and atheistic views propels human progress—progress that halts during periods of irrational crisis. Being French, Minois focused extensively on the Catholic Church, which he judged intellectually in decline since the 19th century, the apex of atheist science. (I disagree: the Church bravely opposed eugenics and racism.)
In the decade following his book’s publication, neo-atheism arose in the U.S., notably with political aims. Leaders like Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens leveraged the September 11 attacks to oppose religion as inherently evil and to justify the Iraq War. Twenty years later, a major shift is evident: at the millennium’s start, atheism publicly championed war despite a predominantly Christian populace. Today, while Sam Harris still advocates war, Zionist Christians have taken the lead. Adding complexity, an influential growing religion is now identified with anti-Zionism, even though the American left is often both atheist and anti-Zionist.
Therefore, it seems more reasonable to interpret history by linking the decline of Catholicism to the rise of liberalism. Thus, if liberalism falls, Catholicism’s revival is unsurprising. Russia experienced a similar pattern when the Orthodox Church reemerged as communism lost favor. Both communism and liberalism promised to supplant religion by elevating science as ultimate authority. Stalinist Russia listened to Bukharin; Putin’s Russia listens to Patriarch Kirill. If the Bush-era U.S. heeded Sam Harris to justify war, and the Trump-era U.S. prefers John Hagee and Paula White, then common sense has undergone a profound transformation.
The Western story is more complicated due to Protestantism’s role. This also supports the link between liberalism and Catholic decline. First, because Protestantism originated liberalism and established the neutral state accommodating multiple religious sects, effectively privatising religion to exclude it from public discourse. Second, because Zionist Christian churches have flourished among the poorest strata in the Third World, offering impoverished people the hope of prosperity through divine blessing. In Brazil and Africa, neo-Pentecostalism gained an advantage over indigenous paganism by providing a more affordable form of spiritual intervention toward goals like money and love. Unlike these churches, the Catholic Church never tempted the poor with promises of riches and thus struggled during neoliberalism.
This background clarifies the Brazilian scenario. For years, Brazil was predicted to become overwhelmingly evangelical within a few decades. The notion of Catholic converts was largely absent, and widespread Catholic non-practice was normal. Now, a movement is emerging—not yet reflected in the 2022 census—where evangelicals are returning to Catholicism.
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