[Tax-chick]

[trisham]

Particularly in the last years of his life, when he was very ill, he was an inspiration to me.

[ebb tide]

When John Paul made the first visit by a pope to Brazil, in 1980, nearly 90 percent of the population considered itself Catholic; by the 2010 census, that had fallen to under two-thirds, with the number of Brazilians calling themselves Protestants rising to 22 percent from 6 percent during the same period.

The situation here in Rio underscores the growing challenge to the Catholic church. According to census data, the growth of evangelical Protestantism, secularism and African-Brazilian faiths like candomblé has been so pronounced that Catholics no longer constitute a majority of the population in Rio de Janeiro State.

Well done, JP II! Look how you have decimated the Catholic Church in Latin America, under thirty years of your watch.

Pope, in an Angered Brazil, to Focus on Social Justice