Spain and Portugal as a matter of course introduced the Roman Catholic religion in their South American conquests. The aborigines, being imbued with a veneration for forms, or imagery of some kind, soon fell under the influence of the priesthood. Volumes have been written on the power and grandeur of the Jesuits, who were assuredly the pioneers of civilisation in South America, and they certainly accomplished what the sword could never have done. Papal and monarchial jealousy led to their expulsion, but many substantial buildings still remain as evidence of their activity and influence. The district called Missions, lying between Paraguay, Brazil, and the Banda Oriental, which has long been a bone of contention between the ruler of Paraguay and the Argentine Republic, abounds with their ancient edifices, mostly in ruins, and Paraguay itself retains to this day many of the characteristics of the Jesuit rule, which was exercised in a despotic manner—half sacerdotal, half military.

Any one visiting South America must be struck with the enormous size of the churches and convents, so utterly out of proportion to what must have been the wants of the population at the period of their erection, and even at this moment many of these buildings are unoccupied, as stated in my notice of the Brazilian city of San Paulo. These churches and convents were endowed with enormous tracts of land, which in process of time have become very valuable, and if appropriated to State purposes would go a long way towards paying off the national debt of Brazil. Some measure of this kind will inevitably be adopted at some future period, as in most instances the property itself is unproductive of any national benefit, nor is it utilised for any national object. The power of the priesthood still predominates and subjects the masses, if not a majority of the enlightened population, to its influence, and little short of a social revolution can wrest from the Church what is no longer required for religious observances, or distributed in any way towards the spread of religious knowledge. Mexico is an instance of the pernicious and fatal effects produced by a dominant priesthood, and although the more liberal views of Brazilians have weakened the priestly trammels in which some other parts of South America are still held, few have come forward to propose divesting the Church of her nonproductive property.

The Roman Catholic religion is the religion of the State in Brazil, though all others are tolerated by law and treaties, nor has any difficulty ever arisen in this respect. At the same time it cannot be denied that open attempts at proselytism would be attended with danger. So long as foreign communities carry on their own religious ceremonies quietly and without ostentation all will be well, but too much demonstration might be productive of mischievous results.

As a body it cannot be said the Roman Catholic priesthood of South America is held in much esteem by the laity. Their stronghold is in the subserviency of the more ignorant and narrow-minded of their flock, precisely as we find it all over the world, and even at home.

In the River Plate, owing in a great measure to the scattered nature of the population, the influence of the priesthood has been less felt or exercised than in Brazil, besides which the large introduction of the foreign element in its towns and cities has led to greater freedom of thought and action. Nevertheless the church has large possessions in land, to which the same objections may be urged as in the case of Brazil, and the sooner they are appropriated to national objects the better. Cordova may be termed a city of churches and convents, the greater number of which are useless. A recent writer on Cordova says:—“In telling anything of Cordova it is impossible to omit to speak of her churches: there are over thirty of them, besides the Cathedral. A description of them and their riches and institutions would make a large book. I have neither the requisite information, inclination, nor the time to go into the details of this painful theme—the Church in Cordova being so manifestly an incubus on the advancement of the country. Immense capitals are locked up in massive buildings and lands, which the clergy will neither sell nor cultivate, and a small army of friars and nuns—unproductive men and women in every sense—is detached from the world to manage these great properties, which yield nothing to the people moral or material.” The great Republic of the United States presents a good example to those of South America by permitting free admission of every religion its citizens may choose to adopt without allowing the predominance of any one in particular.