Singing Priests, Weeping Faithful: The Charismatic Church of Brazil

Here’s a glimpse at part of the Catholic Church that will be welcoming the pope this week, from CNN:

It looks like an airport hangar and it sounds like a rock concert. Thousands have packed into a megachurch on the periphery of Sao Paulo for one of Father Marcelo Rossi’s Thursday night masses.

The Roman Catholic priest belts out some of his hit songs before walking up to the altar. The parishioners join in, waving their arms in the air.

“Lord, I know you love me,” sings a young woman in braces.

Father Marcelo, 46, was a personal trainer before he joined the clergy.

Now he is at the forefront of a Brazilian movement known as the Charismatic Catholic Renovation trying to invigorate the Church and lure new and old followers back to the fold.

They use music and sermons aimed at trying to secure success on Earth as well as in the after-life, methods more often associated with Latin America’s flourishing Pentecostal Evangelical churches.

Read more. But to get a real flavor for the experience, watch the video report below.