Catholic Church in Puerto Rico


The Catholic Church in Puerto Rico is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope in Rome.

Present situation

The CIA World Factbook reports that 85% of the population of Puerto Rico is Catholic, with the remaining 15% divided among Protestantism, Islam, and Judaism. However, the CIA report provides no date or source for the data; it may be outdated. Some sources, including Pew Research Center, put the Catholic percentage at approximately 70%.
An Associated Press article in March 2014 stated that "more than 70 percent of whom identify themselves as Catholic" but provided no source for this information.
However, in a November 2014 report, with the sub-title Widespread Change in a Historically Catholic Region, Pew Research indicated that only 56% of Puerto Ricans were Catholic and that 33% were Protestant; this survey was completed between October 2013 and February 2014.
When discussing Catholicism in Puerto Rico, Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves of San Juan offered this comment in 2007. "Its deepest roots are Latino... U.S. rule began in 1898, at the end of the Spanish–American War, but indigenous, African and Spanish cultures "shaped its identity for 400 years" and that influence "cannot be undone overnight”. The shift from Spanish to U.S. rule brought a wave of anti-Catholic sentiment that led to the prohibition of the processions that are a mainstay of Latin American religious practice, as well as government policies that prohibited schools from teaching in Spanish. Since the approval of the Puerto Rican Constitution in 1952, popular religious traditions such as processions and festivals honoring communities' patron saints have taken root again.
There is also an Byzantine Catholic community of the St. Spyridon Parish in Trujillo Alto under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Roberto González Nieves.

Marian apparitions

Puerto Rico has its own Marian apparition of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, though it has not yet been officially recognized by the Vatican, as this is a process that takes many years to be verified. When these events get approved by the Vatican, it will make the apparition of Elenita de Jesús the only continuous apparition of Our Lady.

Elenita de Jesús

Identity and names

Elenita de Jesús, known to locals as "Our Mother", revealed her identity to the community, she affirmed: “I witnessed the death of Jesus”, “I am the mother of all men”, “I am the Mistress of all peoples”, “I am the one who suffered a lot when Jesus died on the cross”, and “I am the Queen of Heaven and Earth.” When Elenita was asked who she was, she often responded “I am your Mother”. She called those who approached her “children” without exception. Many called her “Our Mother” or simply “Mother.” “Elenita de Jesús” could be translated as “Little Light of Jesus”. Other names she went by were Mother Elena, Mamita Elena, and Mother Elenita. There were also people who referred to Our Mother as “La Santa” and many referred to her as the Virgin Mary. The only name Our Mother did not approve of was ‘.’
An affidavit made on February 2, 1985 made by Felificado Pérez de la Torre, a local lawyer and State-certified notary public, Don Bernardo del Valle, said that it was during a sermon in Caguas that she asked to be called Elenita de Jesús. Del Valle served as guardian of her house in the self-sufficient compound founded by Our Mother in La Santa Montaña.
Misconceptions and Masonic cover-ups tried to bury her identity, which is why they changed the last name in Elenita de Jesús's death certificate. However, journalist Vionette Negretti disproved many misconceptions by finding the official documents of the person they tried to pass Elenita for, Elena Huyke; they were obtained by Dutch genealogist Mathijas Vonder. Said documents and others issued by the Spanish authorities prove that Elena Huyke was born in Curaçao in 1847, she arrived in Puerto Rico with her family and lived in the municipality of Arroyo, per the Spanish census of 1870. She returned to Curaçao with her father in 1880 and died in Curaçao in 1925. Elena Huyke left Puerto Rico 19 years before Our Mother arrived at The Holy Mountain and died outside Puerto Rico 16 years after the burial of Our Mother.

Activities and miracles

In those days only the wealthy could afford to be married or to baptize their children, which is why Our Mother would use the donations received to lead pilgrimages to neighboring churches so that the children would be baptized and couples could be married. She would round up couples living together and take them all to have marriage ceremonies on the same day.
Our Mother showed power over movement, time, elements, nature, sickness, sun, sound, matter, gravity, control over the laws of physics, and malignancies in the presence of her disciples, priests and the crowds who attended her sermons. Some of her miracles include multiplication of food, turning the taste of extremely sour fruits into ones of great sweetness, and transmuting herself several times into a dove. She appeared and disappeared among people as a ray of light, made herself invisible only to some selected people three times, stopped the movement of the sun, separated the waters of overflowing rivers to cross from one riverbank to the other. She levitated in countless occasions, and could exercise control over the fauna. She could talk to animals, they obeyed her. She also was aware of the thoughts and actions of those around her. She could foretell future events and hear peoples prayers to her. Our Mother also disappeared frequently, but she would always return.

Evidence

Although many have tried to discredit the events relating to the Apparition of Elenita de Jesús, she left evidence that cannot be contested. Elenita gave her followers detailed instructions to do post-mortem, among those was to collect her blood-which was saved for many years, until 2013 when a DNA test proved not only Our Lady's existence but her archaic genealogy.
In 1935, Félix Rodríguez Tirado—a resident of Patillas who testified that Our Mother had told him that God had sent her to talk about salvation to all—was digging in the area where Our Mother spilled her blood. He planned to place a monument there. Then he found some pieces of cloth with the blood of Our Mother. He was so strongly impressed by the fact that the blood was still fresh—25 years after the burial—that he pulled them out quickly and buried them again in a nearby place about three or four feet deep.
In 2013, Gerardo González Rosario, a resident artisan from the San Salvador, neighborhood of Caguas, and grandson of the disciple Alberto Rosario Galarza—who was part of the group known as Soldiers of Our Mother—signed an affidavit before a lawyer attached to the Commission of Civil Rights of Puerto Rico, Joel Ayala Martínez. In the document he indicated that in 1984 he had received orders from Our Mother to go to Santa Montaña, which he did. Following her precise instructions, he found the jars containing the blood spilled in 1909 that were buried back in 1935. To his surprise, he discovered that the blood was still fresh. After removing the bottles—while preparing to bury them again where instructed—he asked permission to take a piece of blood-stained cloth for himself. With permission granted by Our Mother, he placed them in a small glass jar that he closed with a cork and carried away his pocket. González Rosario did not reveal to anyone what happened until he again received instructions from Our Mother in 2013, this time ordering him to show the blood sample he had kept hidden since 1984.
On January 9, 2013, David Ortiz Angleró, actor, speaker and former president of the Association of Producers and Artists of Shows, visited the residence of Mr. González Rosario in the San Salvador neighborhood of Caguas. Angleró had in front of him and in full view—from 9:45 A.M. until noon—the transparent glass bottle containing the blood of Our Mother. By affidavit signed on March 2, 2013 before Commissioner Joel Ayala Martínez, Agleró indicated that the blood still remained liquid, and had the color of red apples. In addition, from the glass container—although it was closed—emanated a strong scent of roses. The statement of Mr. Angleró was officially certified in accordance with the laws of Puerto Rico.
On February 12, 2013, a sample of the blood was extracted under strict aseptic conditions to prevent contamination. The blood—still in a liquid state: fresh—was taken to the Advanced DNA Identification Center to perform a mitochondrial study, remaining all the time under the supervision of González Rosario. The study of the sample was carried out by the owner of said laboratory, Dr. Gilberto Aponte Machín, in the presence of twelve witnesses of various professions and trades, all of impeccable reputation. All of that was duly recorded according to law. The witnesses observed the moment when the bottle was opened, as well as the strong, identifiable and penetrating fragrance of roses that lasted until it was closed. They also attested to the immutability of the blood, which remained in a liquid state and of a bright scarlet red color during the 27 minutes that the extraction of the sample lasted. Six of the witnesses photographed the procedure with digital cameras. Two of them took videos of the examination room while the procedure was in progress.
The scientists attempted to determine:
  1. if the liquid substance in the glass container was actually human blood,
  2. the sex of the person to whom it belonged, and
  3. the ancestry of the subject through DNA analysis.
The officially certified result of the analysis, dated February 28, 2013, indicates beyond any doubt that the blood extracted from the bottle under the custody of Mr. González Rosario comes from a woman and that the associated probability of that person being Puerto Rican is 1 in 577 million trillion. By way of reference: the estimated population of the Earth is around 7.1 billion people, or 7,100,000,000 human beings.

The Holy Mountain

Adding to this body of evidence is the presence of the Holy Spirit at the sacred site the Holy Mountain, visited by religious groups and persons of faith and protected by the Diocese of Caguas. The Holy Mountain, is located at an altitude of 2,226 ft above sea level, in the Espino neighborhood of the municipality of San Lorenzo, is a locality near where the municipalities of San Lorenzo, Patillas and Cayey meet. On 1954 by mandate of the government of Puerto Rico for all official purposes, including cartography, Cerro Las Peñas was named Cerro de Nuestra Madre. The Our Lady of Mt Carmel Diocesan Sanctuary is located at the top of La Santa Montaña in Puerto Rico. It was built and dedicated in 1985 by the bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Caguas, Monsignor Enrique Hernández Rivera.
As years went by, a spring that Our Mother made appear among the stones was sold out. The disciples who lived in the farm implored her to intercede to bring up another spring. Our Mother again caused water to surge between the stones, this time on the western slope of the mountain. She called that water “a balm for all my children.” She also promised that the spring would never dry up.

Prophecies

The prophecies that Our Mother left us are documented in the book by Fr. Jaime Reyes. O.P. La Santa Montaña de San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico y el Misterio de Elenita de Jesús 1899-1909.

List of dioceses

On January 11, 2018 Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of San Juan filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, stating that the current pension plan was unworkable and applied for a new plan which has an estimated $10 million in assets and $10 million in liabilities. On March 27, 2018, local Judge Anthony Cuevas issued an embargo against the Archdiocese of San Juan which would remain in effect until they could find $4.7 million to pay for the teachers pension. It was also ruled that the Catholic Church in Puerto Rico was a single entity and that the embargo would apply to all the suffragan dioceses of the Archdiocese of San Juan. On August 30, 2018, the Archdiocese of San Juan filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, noting that they were unable to find the $4.7 million. Federal Judge Edward Godoy protected the Archdiocese under Chapter 11, paralyzing the seizure of assets and helping them avoid the owed retirement payments. However, it was also ruled that the bankruptcy would apply to all the other Catholic dioceses in Puerto Rico.

Episcopal conference

The bishops in Puerto Rico form the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference.
The episcopal conference allows the bishops to set certain norms for all of Puerto Rico, including the form of the liturgy.