The Roman Catholic Church came to Guatemala region soon after the first Spaniards in the 1500's. The Sixteenth Century religious offered their lives to tell the people of the new world the good news of Jesus Christ. The Santiago Atitlan church below was built in 1547.

In the 36 year war in Guatemala the Catholic Church took the side of the poor. As a consequence priests, nuns and even simple catechists were slaughtered along with the people they served. To this day the religious build and operate orphanages, schools and hospitals. Most importantly they share the word of God and live out the Gospel.

A currently popular view is that Europeans introduced all that is evil into the idyllic life of the indigenous peoples. This view is pretty accurate if you overlook the facts. The Aztecs to the north were known to sacrifice 20,000 human lives each year to their gods and in 1487,in a stunning display of bloodthirsty barbarism, sacrificed 80,000 men, women and children in four days. The Mayans were long thought to be gentle and peaceful It is now known the Mayans made routine child sacrifice and warred upon each other to the ruin of a dominant and technologically advanced society.