VOA慢速英語：教皇能使西班牙裔教徒留在天主教嗎？

The Spanish-language service at the Roman Catholic Saint Elizabeth church in New York City attracts a crowd, even midweek.

在紐約，羅馬天主教圣伊麗莎白教堂所提供的西班牙語服務(wù)吸引大批人群，一直持續(xù)到周三。

Many of the church's members are new immigrants from majority Catholic countries in Latin America.

教會的許多成員是新移民，來自拉丁美洲天主教徒占多數(shù)的國家。

A recent study found that almost 90 percent of Hispanic Americans have a favorable opinion of Pope Francis. The leader of the Roman Catholic Church will visit the city this week.

最近一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，幾乎90％的拉美裔美國人贊同教皇弗朗西斯的觀點(diǎn)。羅馬天主教會的領(lǐng)袖將于本周訪問該城市。

Pope Francis reaches from the popemobile for a child that is brought to him, during a parade in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)

?Sister Celia Cid says Pope Francis, a son of immigrants, understands the needs of Hispanic Americans.

修女西莉亞熙說，教皇弗朗西斯，為移民之子，了解拉美裔美國人的需求。

"He identifies with the struggles on many different nationalities, different countries and what they are going through," she said. "It's a great hope for me to have him come because this city is a melting pot. It is a city built on immigrants."

“他認(rèn)同那些在許多不同民族、不同國家掙扎的人們以及他們正在經(jīng)歷的事情。”她說。“對我而言，他的到來將是一個(gè)偉大的希望，因?yàn)檫@座城市是一個(gè)大熔爐，是由移民組成的一個(gè)城市。”

But almost 25 percent of Hispanic Americans are now former Catholics. Some leave for evangelical and Pentecostal churches. Others just slowly withdraw from the Catholic Church.

但是，現(xiàn)在，幾乎25％的拉美裔美國人為前天主教徒。一些人離開天主教來到福音派和五旬節(jié)派教會。其他人也只是逐漸地退出天主教會。

Father Ambiorix Rodriguez is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic. He was raised in Manhattan where he is now a priest. Father Rodriguez told VOA that Pope Francis has an answer. He said the Pope advises Catholic spiritual leaders to go out and connect with people outside of the church building.

神父，Ambiorix Rodriguez，是來自多明尼加共和國的移民。他在曼哈頓長大，現(xiàn)在他是那兒的一名牧師。神父羅德里格斯對美國之音說，教皇弗朗西斯對此有自己的說法。他說教皇建議天主教精神領(lǐng)袖出去與教堂建筑外的人進(jìn)行聯(lián)系。

"He is telling the church we can no longer stay inside, self-enclosed, worrying about who we have, who is here, but no, the church needs to go out," Father Rodriguez said.

“他告訴教會，我們不能再待在里面、自我封閉、擔(dān)心我們擁有誰？誰會在這兒？而是教會需要走出去。”神父羅德里格斯說。

Young adults make up the largest group of Hispanics leaving Catholicism. Today, many people under the age of 30 describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated.

青少年彌補(bǔ)了大批離開天主教的拉美裔人。如今，30歲以下的很多人將自己描述為無教派人士。

?Alias is a young Catholic Church member who is invigorated by the Pope's openness.

Alias是一個(gè)年輕的天主教會成員，受到教皇思想開通的影響而變得精神飽滿。

He said, "If the Catholics who have drifted are based on ‘Oh, you don't understand me,' or 'It's too complicated,' or 'I'm tired of traditional habits,' the Pope is actually saying, ‘You know what? I am moving forward.'" Visit the website www.chinavoa.com to get more information!

他說：“如果天主教徒基于“哦，你不理解我，‘或’這太復(fù)雜了，‘或者’我已經(jīng)厭倦了傳統(tǒng)習(xí)慣進(jìn)行漂泊，‘教皇實(shí)際上是在表達(dá)，你知道嗎？我正在前進(jìn)。’”

Alias also said the pope's use of social media to connect with the next generation is one way he is keeping young people invested and interested. Pope Francis is the most-followed world leader on Twitter, a popular social-media site. His user name is @Pontifex.

Alias還表示，教皇使用社交媒體與下一代人進(jìn)行聯(lián)系是他讓青年人加入并對此感興趣的一種方式。教皇弗朗西斯是在Twitter上國內(nèi)關(guān)注人數(shù)最多的世界領(lǐng)袖，Twitter是一個(gè)流行的社交媒體網(wǎng)站。他的用戶名是@Pontifex。

"The youth are the future people of tomorrow. They are ones who are going to keep this church alive," Alias said. "If the youth are not being influenced or moved by it, you're going to lose a lot of members because it starts there," he said.

Alias 說“青少年是未來的人們。他們是給教堂帶來生機(jī)的人們。如果青少年不受其影響或不被其感動(dòng)，將會失去許多成員，因?yàn)樗鼜倪@里開始。”

The Pew Research Center study says that almost 33 percent of American Catholics are Hispanic. The study also found that Hispanics are leaving the religion at a high rate. In 2010, 67 percent of Hispanic Americans identified themselves as Catholic. By 2013 that percentage had dropped to 55 percent.

皮尤研究中心的研究報(bào)告稱，幾乎33％的美國天主教徒是西班牙裔美國人。研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，拉美裔美國人的離開率很高。2010年，拉美裔美國人中有67％認(rèn)為自己是天主教徒。到2013年這一比例已經(jīng)下降至55％。

I'm Jim Tedder.

我是吉姆特德。

VOA correspondent Daniela Schrier reported this story from New York City. Caty Weaver wrote it for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

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Words in this Story

nationality– n. a group of people who share the same history, traditions, and language, and who usually live together in a particular country

evangelical – adj. of or relating to a Christian sect or group that stresses the authority of the Bible, the importance of believing that Jesus Christ saved you personally from sin or hell, and the preaching of these beliefs to other people

priest– n. a person who has the authority to lead or perform ceremonies in some religions and especially in some Christian religions

unaffiliated – adj. not connected with something (such as a program or organization) as a member or partner

invigorate ­– v. to give strength or energy to

drift– v. to change slowly from one state or condition to another