Popular religiosity : Allowing oneself to be evangelised by, and evangelising, the religious aspirations of today. Theological challenges

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The author provides an in-depth reflection on the theological and pastoral challenges of what is referred to as ‘popular religiosity’. Since the expression refers to a very vast reality, which ranges from traditional manifestations of devotion and of popular piety to various postmodern forms of religiosity (New Age and the many varied ‘religious’ expressions based on naturalistic or psychological considerations), the author narrows down his analysis, limiting himself to speaking of forms of popular religiosity that express the Christian faith. His initial hypothesis is that this is a particular way of living and interpreting the Christian faith, that is, a form of ‘popular’ inculturation.In his sociological analysis (first part), the author presents three characteristics of popular religiosity: its simplicity, its demand for more direct relations with the world of divinity and the search for immediate utility (concrete response to the necessities of life). What distinguishes it from institutional or learned religiosity is that it privileges the relational approach over the rational one. In this sense it tends toward a symbolic interpretation of reality, and to an expression of faith in its globality. This first part ends with the invitation not to eliminate the possibility that it might entail a challenge to re-examine the official forms of the religious message.In his theological reading (second part), the author remarks first of all the difficult co-existence between popular religiosity and institutional religion. The ecclesial rehabilitation of the former is fairly recent: it is above all the contribution of the Latin American Church, before being recognised by Evangelii Nuntiandi and by the Directory on popular piety and the liturgy.The theological argument takes into consideration both the objective and the subjective aspects of the faith, the involvement of the whole person (including the affective and emotional dimension), the relationship to Christology and the liturgy, and finally, its connection to the understanding of the faith. In this way, we can better grasp how the two dimensions of the actus fidei, those of the affectus fidei and of the intellectus fidei, are equally indispensable.In spite of its ambiguities, popular religiosity is presented as a reservoir of humanity and maintains a ‘silent prophetic dimension’ vis-à-vis learned and official religiosity.