User:JS1833/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Catholic Church in Latin America

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
The role of the Catholic Church in Latin America is at the forefront of political power in the early stages of Latin American countries. The power of the Church, and its relationship with the public, creates vastly different dynamics amongst church supporters and anti-church groups. I am interested in finding out what the article focuses on, especially as it pertains to each individual country rather then generalizing the church's role.

Evaluate the article
As a whole, the article does a good job in providing central information for the topics discussed. The 2 images, a picture of 'The Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida', as well as a global map showing the densities of Catholicism, both show of the importance of the church in Latin America. The map displays the fact that outside of Europe, Latin America has by far the greatest density of Catholics in the world. A large chunk of the article speaks on the origins of Catholicism in Latin America, from exploration to Jesuit/Franciscan missions. However, there is a fairly large chunk of time missing (around mid 16th to early 19th century), skipping from earliest interactions to anti-clerical movements in Latin America.

On the talk page, comments about the page are not very positive. For example, the Requerimiento of 1513 is portrayed as being demanding of conversion by natives by the Spanish. The page doesn't do a great job of specifying the fact that it is demanding acknowledgement of power rather than fully submitting to the beliefs of the Spanish. There is also large chunks of time missing in modern developments and in the 19th century. The page was created as a part of a Wiki Education Foundation assignment, and as a result there is mistakes with links and quotes that more seasoned vets may not display.

Overall, the page covers a very large chunk of time, without having the large amount of info needed to fully share ideas. As an assignment, I think this serves as a great base to look at for what to do and not do in my own work. The page is definitely the start of something great, but hasn't fully developed because there simply is not someone working on it long term.