From ............... National Catholic Reporter

March 8, 1996

page 8

GROUP PREDICTS A PROTESTANT MEXICO

A Mexican evangelical group says Chiapas soon will be the first state in Mexico in which the majority of the population is Protestant. A statement released by the National Confraternity of Evangelical Christian Churches also said that in about 25 or 30 years the entire country of Mexico will have a majority evangelical population.

The statement said the reason Pope John Paul II visited Latin America in February was to stop the spread of evangelical Protestant groups.

Arturo Farela, president of the confraternity, said that 17 percent to 20 percent of Mexico's population is Protestant. Other sources list the [Roman] Catholic population at 89 to 95 percent of the population.

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