Hispanics pray new pope hears them

WICHITA, Kan. --Raquel Rodriguez was in Zapopan, Jalisco, in 1979 when Pope John Paul II made his first visit to Mexico. She stood on a sidewalk with thousands of people as the pope passed by.

It was an unforgettable and spiritual moment, she said. It also was one that gave her a feeling of enormous national pride.

"When he went there, it felt (as though) he was a Mexican," said Rodriguez, of Wichita.

The election of a new pope officially begins Monday. And many Hispanic Catholics, including Rodriguez, say it will be important for the next pope to relate to Hispanics, one of the fastest- growing segments of Catholics worldwide.

That doesn't mean the next pope has to necessarily be from Latin America, they say. But they would like for him to speak Spanish, visit Latin American nations and speak on social issues -- such as poverty and HIV/AIDS -- that are important to Latin Americans.

It's not that they expect the pope to solve such issues, but that he show his concern and give hope to those who must face them.

"I think -- I pray -- that the (next) pope's knowledge of the language and Latin American culture would be extremely important," said Ron Cruz, executive director of the secretariat for Hispanic affairs of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"One of the things John Paul did, he visited several Latin American countries. He was able to see and meet people face-to- face. He knew the face of the faithful, and he was able to hug the poor, the child with AIDS."

About 46 percent of the world's approximate 1 billion Catholics are in Latin America. In the United States, Hispanics make up 25 million -- about 39 percent -- of its 65 million Catholics, according to the conference.

Rodriguez, a parishioner at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a church in north Wichita with a large Spanish-speaking congregation, says those numbers underscore the importance of Hispanic Catholics.

If they're not a priority to the pope, she said, "their faith will decrease."

That's something that Peter Salmeron, also a member of that parish, is concerned about.

"There are religions that are working very, very hard and they are very actively trying to recruit people from Latin America," said Salmeron, a native of Peru.

One of the faster growing faiths in Latin America is Pentecostal, which is attracting many poor Catholics who don't have enough priests to serve them.

"South America, because of limited means of economic development, one of the ways they find fulfillment is through their religion," Salmeron said. "So I think if the new pope doesn't do a good job, the Catholics are going to find out a lot of their numbers are going to be reduced."

The Rev. Eric Weldon, pastor at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Wichita, leads one Spanish-language Mass each weekend at the church that attracts about 500 people.

"The strength and probably the future of Christianity is probably in the Southern Hemisphere," he said. "It's not just a European church. It never really has been, but it really isn't now, and it's very noticeable."

Rodriguez says it will be important for the new pope to reach out not only to Hispanics, but to all people, as did John Paul II.

"They're waiting for the same results," she said in Spanish, "from the new pope."

HISPANIC CATHOLICS IN THE UNITED STATES

--Percentage of U.S. Catholics who are Hispanic: 39

--Percentage of Hispanics who are Catholic: 72.6

--Approximate number of U.S. parishes with Hispanic ministry: 4,000

--Percentage of U.S. parishes with majority Hispanic presence: 20.6

--Percentage of the Catholic growth in the U.S. that Hispanics have accounted for since 1960: 71

Source: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Hispanic Affairs

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