Despite cranky old Bishops' attempts to make us like the Evangelicals and care most about abortion, the truth is that Catholics, especially in Latin America, are raised as children to believe that social justice is first pillar of true Christianity and anybody who rejects that is selling snake oil. The second pillar is to trust in institutions. Even if they stopped going to church after Sunday School, you can't shake them from that taught value system.
To the average Hispanic, the current Republican Party looks like the biggest sinner convention going.
I think we have most of the truth here, in
general outside USA no matter if people are traditional Protestants or Catholics, religious people usual use Christianity to argue for social justice not only from the religious organsations side, but also from the state. The Religious Right with its social darwinism and prosperity theology come across not only as wrong theological, but also blasphemic in its celebration of the rich and condemnation of the poor. As such if GOP want to make inroad among Hispanics, it either need to spread Evangelicalism among the Hispanics, or turn left on economics or at the very least stop being so vocal about their hatred of poor people. Ironic if Romney had openly embraced the Mormon Church's internal social reliefs and suggested that the state helped other Churches in setting up a similar system, Hispanics would likely have been a lot more positive toward him.
