Folk Catholicism

Folk Catholicism is any of various ethnic expressions of Catholicism as practiced in Catholic communities around the world, typically in developing nations. Practices that are identified by outside observers as "folk Catholicism" vary from place to place, and often depart from the official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

Some forms of folk Catholic practices are based on syncretism with non-Catholic beliefs and may involve the syncretism of Catholic saints and non-Christian deities. Some of these folk Catholic forms have come to be identified as separate religions, as is the case with Caribbean and Brazilian syncretisms between Catholicism and West African religions, which include Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santería, and Brazilian Candomblé. Similarly complex syncretisms between Catholic practice and indigenous or Native American belief systems, as are common in Maya communities of Guatemala and Quechua communities of Peru to give just two of many examples, are typically not named as separate religions; their practitioners generally regard themselves as "good Catholics."

Other folk Catholic practices are local elaborations of Catholic custom, and do not contradict orthodox Catholic doctrine. Examples of such practices include compadrazgo in modern Latin America and the Philippines, which developed from standard medieval European Catholic practices that fell out of favor in Europe after the seventeenth century, the veneration of Saints and angels that aren't officially venerated in Catholicism, generally from the apocryphal books, such as Uriel the Archangel from the Apocalypse of Ezra (2 Esdras or 4 Ezra depending on naming convention), and ritual pilgrimages in medieval and modern Europe. Modern folk Catholic beliefs and practices include miracle stories about priests in Ireland, stories about apparitions of the Virgin Mary and other saints in Spain, and folk practices surrounding vows to saints in Latin America and Europe.

Folk Catholic practices occur everywhere that Catholicism is a major religion, not only in the often-cited cases of Latin America and the West Indies. Folk accommodations between orthodox Catholicism and local beliefs can be found in Gaelic Scotland, the Philippines, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Poland, and southern India.

The Church of Rome takes a pragmatic stance towards folk Catholicism and may often declare Marian apparitions and similar miracles "worthy of belief" (e.g. Our Lady of Fatima), or will confirm the cult of local saints without actually endorsing or recommending belief.