Abstract

BELTRAN, William Mauricio; MEDINA-MORALES, Nicolás  and  ROBERTO, Yenny. The Secularization of Funeral Rites in Popular Catholicism: Bogotá, Colombia. CS [online]. 2021, n.33, pp.141-170.  Epub Mar 10, 2021. ISSN 2011-0324.  https://doi.org/10.18046/recs.i33.4027.

Since the Spanish colonization, the inhabitants of Bogotá have bid farewell to their loved ones following the instructions of the Catholic Church and are guided by the beliefs and customs of popular Catholicism. However, since the mid-twentieth century, funerary rites have been transformed among Bogotá’s Catholics. This change is analyzed in this article with the help of the concept of Secularization; understood as a multidimensional, longterm process. Thanks to socio-historical analysis, this paper identifies several factors that have engendered the secularization of the funeral rite: its progressive liberation from the control and regulation of the Catholic Church. Three fundamental processes stand out in this regard: 1) the regulation of the rite by the State; 2) the rise of funeral companies; 3) the globalization of communications, particularly the massification of the so-called social networks that are connected thanks to the internet.

Keywords : Secularization; Popular Catholicism; Funerary Rites; Catholic Church; Funeral Company.

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