(ZENIT News / Lima, 06.06.2025).- Just weeks after the election of Pope Leo XIV—the first Peruvian pope in history—an unexpected irony is emerging: Catholic affiliation in Peru continues to decline. While the country has made global headlines for its new connection to the Vatican, the latest data reveals that symbolic milestones are no match for long-standing cultural shifts.
According to a fresh national survey by the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP), Catholic identification in Peru dropped to 60.2 percent in May 2025, down from 63.5 percent just six months earlier. The data paints a picture not of renewal, but of a drift—steady and stubborn—from the religious tradition that once defined the country.
This decline comes despite the unprecedented elevation of Cardinal Robert Prevost, a naturalized Peruvian citizen, to the papacy on May 8. The move was widely celebrated at home, with 59 percent of Peruvians expressing positive feelings about his election. Yet those emotions—joy, hope, and pride—have not translated into a statistical return to the Church.
What might once have been a rallying moment for Catholic identity is instead unfolding against the backdrop of a broader religious transformation. Evangelical communities, long seen as a fringe presence in Peru, are gaining serious ground. The same IEP survey showed a jump in evangelical affiliation from 8.4 percent to 11.3 percent in just half a year. If one includes other Christian groups, they now account for nearly a quarter of the population.
For scholars of religion, these shifts are not surprising. “The trends predate this papacy and won’t be reversed overnight,” said Cecilia Tovar, a philosopher at Lima’s Instituto Bartolomé de las Casas. “Religious change is like a glacier—it moves slowly but reshapes everything.”
The Evangelical rise in Peru has been long in the making. While Catholicism dominated unchallenged for centuries, the past three decades have seen a quiet revolution. Gigantic temples now dot the capital. Foreign missionaries have set up lasting bases. Grassroots churches have taken root in the heart of working-class neighborhoods. In 1996, evangelicals made up just 4.4 percent of the population. Now, their numbers have quintupled.
In tandem, another quiet exodus is underway: the rise of the religiously unaffiliated. A growing number of young Peruvians, especially university students, are stepping away from organized religion altogether. “Many of them are not militant atheists,” noted theologian Veronique Lecaros, who heads the theology program at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. “But they are disenchanted. They’re searching for something that the Church no longer seems to offer.”
Part of that, experts say, is due to internal stagnation within the Catholic institution itself. While the Church once benefited from an influx of dynamic missionaries in the 1960s and 1970s—many of whom were deeply embedded in their communities—that generation is aging out. Their successors, critics argue, are often too removed from the pastoral needs of ordinary believers.
“There’s a clericalism that disconnects the priest from the people,” said Tovar. “The Church has not trained enough leaders with the capacity for real accompaniment.”
Meanwhile, evangelical pastors are often seen as more accessible, more emotionally available, and more present in everyday life. Their services resonate on a personal level, offering not just sermons but direct spiritual engagement. “Peru is moving from a social faith to a personal one,” Tovar added. “And the Catholic Church is losing that race.”
The symbolic ascent of Pope Leo XIV may, in time, yield deeper effects. But for now, the numbers remain indifferent. What they reflect is not rejection, but indifference.
Thank you for reading our content. If you would like to receive ZENIT’s daily e-mail news, you can subscribe for free through this link.
