Catholic Church in Latin America

The church has always been a big institution within any modern society and often where many go for moral direction. It’s no surprise that when any of the European powers conquered others lands that it was done with some religious intentions. Taking territory for the King was important but it was also very important to spread the word of God to these conquered people. Spain would conquer indigenous people with their army but they would also send missionaries with them to try and convert those there and show them the Bible. It was no easy task to get people to convert to Christianity when another religion or practice was in place before for decades or centuries. The priests would have to adapt their teachings to those of the indigenous people first and in time get Christianity to take over. Once towns and homes and churches were built, converting could take full swing and in time the Spanish did get the natives to practice Christianity. But still traces of the natives old religion was placed within the churches by painting some of their gods or people in the churches on the walls. Sometimes paintings that were done by the natives often blended Jesus and the natives together like one such painting done that depicted Jesus as a child Inca King. This is odd mostly because when people think of Jesus as a kid they view him as a baby with Mary and not as a seven year old and never as a king in the monarch version. The church was often seen as a financial institution that was used to fund missionaries and pulled money from real estate and loans  and dowries in terms of women who became nuns. Women often became nuns in Latin America because it was a way for the church to gain money and then those families were given a kind of blessing from the church. Not only could the family gain something from this but also becoming a nun was the best way for a woman to get an education.

I’ve seen a few instances when the church would send out missionaries to foreign countries to try and spread Christianity. Japan was a place where it worked a little bit but mostly failed because the Japanese were mostly just using them for their guns and when the priests tried to spread it to the common people it all ended. They were kicked out of Japan and the ones who tried to get in after that could be killed. Luckily for the Spanish they had their army in Latin America with them.