The “pop” Catholicism of Hakuna and Llamados is filling pavilions with thousands of young people. The problem: they seem evangelical

Two Catholic events in Madrid in just 48 hours, making a couple of undeniable circumstances very clear. First, the Catholic faith has taken root among the youngest people speaking in their same language: with mega concerts and massive events. Second, behind this apparent en bloc following lie different trends that threaten to break up the crowded world of Spanish faith, overflowing with interests that pull in opposite directions.

The events. On Monday, January 13, the Movistar Arena welcomed 6,000 people in ‘Llamados’, a prayer meeting organized by the Parish of Santo Domingo de la Calzada (Algete) and Alpha España (Spanish branch of Alpha International, a method of evangelization born in the 70s within Anglicanism and that explores faith in an informal environment). The next day, the Vistalegre Palace gathered 12,000 attendees at the Hakuna Group Music concertthe Catholic group fashionable in Spain.

The debate. What has ignited the debate is the group’s presence in ‘Llamados’ hillsong as opening act This Australian evangelical group, a Protestant icon, is a clear example of some “evangelical ways” that radically depart from historical Catholic practices and discourses. Contemporary music with rock instruments, giant screens, an abundance of emotional personal testimonies, moments of worship with raised hands… and all in spaces more associated with concerts than with traditional liturgical celebrations. His actions are controversial among the most traditional sectors of Catholicismbut the discussion now reaches Spain.

The context. Hakuna Group Musicthe Catholic youth movement founded in 2013 by Father José Pedro Manglano has become the emblem of this new trend of transforming faith into a mega-conceit. Their song ‘Huracán’ surpassed two million views on social networks after the September 2022 concert in Vistalegre, which brought together 8,000 people, figures within the reach of successful traditional pop groups.

The precedent. This Spanish phenomenon has its clearest precedent in the United States. In July 2024, more than 50,000 Catholics gathered at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the National Eucharistic Congressan event that marked a turning point and where catholic bishops sang ‘How Great Is Our God’, the characteristic hymn of Elevation Churchone of the most influential evangelical megachurches in the world.

For many faithful, this phenomenon represents “a new ecumenical liturgical movement“which is not based on the harsher and more inaccessible Catholic tradition, but on shared music and common experience. And the truth is that this drift towards pop is normal: after all, traditional sacred music is not designed for crowds of tens of thousands of people. In other words, it does not have choruses or lololós.

The CWM. The music that plays in ‘Llamados’ and in Hakuna’s concerts falls within a specific genre: Contemporary Worship Music (CWM), born in American Pentecostal and charismatic churches since the 1960s. It is now a global industry that moves millions of dollars. Among its characteristics are lyrics focused on direct praise to God and written in the first person, simple and repetitive melodic structures designed to be chanted, and instrumentation typical of pop-rock bands. The goal: an immediate emotional experience.

The criticisms. Some critics draw parallels of this movement with the prosperity gospel or prosperity theology, an evangelical current that teaches that God rewards faith with material success and health. Magazines like the Jesuit La Civiltà Cattolicaapproved by the Vatican, warned in 2022 that elements of this theology had penetrated Catholic communities, especially through the charismatic movement, transforming the traditional understanding of redemptive suffering. That is to say, the loss of the traditional penitential component of Catholicism, to which the Latin faction is so closely related, is perceived.

In Spain, the Church has welcomed with open arms the avalanche of young faithful brought by these concerts and events. But there are dissident voices: the Catholic School of Apologetics speaks of ‘12 Reasons why it is not good to listen to Protestant music‘, and warns about the “tyranny of feeling” that prioritizes “feeling” over “believing”, as these songs often enunciate. At Catholic.net they talk that this type of music can inject Protestant beliefs into the Catholic faith, and there are numerous isolated voices that warn of the danger of these mass events.

All with Calls. However, the advancement of phenomena like Llamados is important. Organizers have explicitly positioned it as a model of mass evangelization ahead of the Jubilee of Redemption in 2033, which will commemorate the 2,000th anniversary of the death and resurrection of Christ. With the religious practice in free fallevents like these are one of the few phenomena capable of massively mobilizing young people towards explicitly Christian experiences. But is it a renewal or just a youth fever, in line with the cycles of action and reaction (now that more conservative winds are blowing) that we have always experienced?

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