Pope Assails Brazil’s Evangelical ‘Sects’ : Religion: The pontiff cites ‘worrisome expansion’ of the rival groups. He calls for Catholic evangelization.

In a scorching blast at evangelical Protestant “sects,” Pope John Paul II accused them Sunday of seducing with “false mirages” and misleading with “distorted simplifications.”

He exhorted Brazilian bishops to stem the rapid expansion of rival religions in this traditionally Roman Catholic nation of 150 million people by leading a counter-campaign of Catholic evangelization.

On the second day of a 10-day tour in Brazil, the Pope made it clear that he is not happy with the state of Brazilian Catholicism. He told a national convention of bishops that religious ignorance and “serious lack of doctrine” among the people has left them vulnerable to moral deterioration and “to the seduction of sects and new religious groups.”

On Saturday, hours before the Pope arrived in Brazil, a religious rally by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God filled Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium with an estimated 120,000 people.

The church, which practices exorcism and faith healing, is one of the fastest growing in Brazil. One Catholic study estimates that 600,000 former Brazilian Catholics convert to Protestant denominations each year.

“Their worrisome expansion in these past years in Brazil, as well as in all of Latin America, should be the object of a serious stance on your part,” the Pope told the bishops Sunday.

In an apparent allusion to Protestant denominations that receive missionary aid from U.S. churches, the Pope said that “the promotion of these sects and groups relies on strong economic resources.”

He added: “And their preaching entices people with false mirages, misleads with distorted simplifications and sows confusion, above all among the most simple and those lacking religious instruction. It is important, then, that your pastorate, with a deep missionary spirit, know how to occupy the areas where they act, awakening in the people the joy and holy pride of belonging to the only Church of Christ, which endures in our holy Catholic Church.”

In other passages of his speech, and in his homily at a two-hour outdoor Mass, John Paul repeatedly referred to a previously announced worldwide Catholic crusade that he calls the “new evangelization” or “renewed evangelization.” Although he said the campaign should spread Catholic spiritual values, a point often stressed by conservative churchmen, he also encouraged the work of “progressive” Catholics who emphasize social and economic concerns.

In Brazil, where the progressive wing of the church has been strong, John Paul II’s Vatican has taken punitive measures to discourage political action by priests, especially those in the liberation theology movement who draw on Marxist theory. But according to some analysts, the Vatican now feels that it has won its fight to subdue liberation theology.