Religion in Argentina
[9] The Church solidified its hold on the territory of modern-day Argentina during the period of Spanish colonial rule from the 16th to early 19th centuries.
Church leaders variously supported and opposed the policies of Juan Perón and the violent tactics of the Dirty War.
Today, areas of Church-State contention include contraception, economic policies, and the disputed involvement of the Church in the Dirty War.
Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, the seat of the archbishop, houses the remains of General José de San Martín in a mausoleum.
Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina was elected to the papacy, as Pope Francis, on 13 March 2013.
The Argentine Catholic Apostolic Church was founded, according to varying sources, in 1970 or 1971, in Buenos Aires by its first Archbishop–Primate Leonardo Morizio Dominguez.
Although the national census does not ask about religious affiliation, precluding accurate statistics, Argentina's Muslim community is estimated to number around 1% of the total population.
The total land area granted by the Argentine government measures 34,000 m2, and was offered by President Carlos Menem following his visit to Saudi Arabia in 1992.
The project cost around US$30 million, includes a mosque, library, two schools, and a park, and is located in the middle-class district of Palermo, Buenos Aires.
[citation needed] Argentina has the largest Jewish population in Latin America and south of the Tropic of Cancer,[22] with about 300,000 people.
However, as an overwhelming amount of the Argentinian population became Ashkenazic, the Sephardic Jews began marrying outside of the Sephardi Jewish community.
Since then many groups have been giving teachings, some of them rooted in the best known Sōtō tradition from Japan, but also in many Tibetan institutes for the practice of meditation(Mahamudra, Dzog Chen, Lam Rim).
Some of them still refer to ayurveda, practice yoga, enjoy Indian classical music and speak Hindustani dialects and languages.
A large number of the Indian diaspora living in Buenos Aires are businessmen, doctors, financial or business executives, and employees of multinational corporations.
[citation needed] According to a New York Times article there is a witch's group with over 25,000 followers and possibly millions of practitioners of Argentine cábala (not to be confused with Kabballah from which one the term descends), a practice blending astrology, superstition, soccer, and paraphernalia associated with neopaganism.[1].
[30] Despite this, the Supreme Court ruled that the Roman Catholic Church was not granted the status of official religion by the constitution or any federal legislation.
Many other beliefs in advocations of the Virgin, saints and other religious characters exist throughout the country, which are locally or regionally popular and church-endorsed.
Gil was forced to enlist to fight in the civil war, but he deserted and became an outlaw à la Robin Hood.
There is also the popular cult of Miguel Ángel Gaitán, from Villa Unión, in La Rioja, known as El Angelito Milagroso ("The Miraculous Little Angel"), an infant who died of meningitis just short of his first birthday, who people recur to for requests and miracles.
[36] According to a 2008 CONICET survey on creeds, about 76.5% of Argentines are Roman Catholic, 11.3% religiously indifferent, 9% Protestant (with 7.9% in Pentecostal denominations), 1.2% Jehovah's Witnesses, and 0.9% Mormons.
[4] A 2008 survey called America's Barometer by the Vanderbilt University reported for Argentina, Catholic 77.1%, No religion 15.9%, Protestant, Evangelical and other Christian 4.8% (with Pentecostal 3.3%), Other 2.1%.
