Evangelical churches, especially Pentecostal and neopentecostal currents, are growing in Spain fueled by new migrant communities, mainly Latin American. The phenomenon is already visible in metro advertising, WhatsApp prayer groups, temples set up in industrial warehouses, and free large-scale events that gather tens of thousands of people with messages of salvation, healing, and prosperity.
These spaces offer community, companionship, and a support network to newly arrived or precarious people, but they also raise questions about the relationship between faith, money, and influence. Some pastors link religious belief with donations, sacrifices, and promises of material improvement. Madrid concentrates striking examples, such as the so-called “evangelical golden mile” of Carabanchel, with dozens of temples in industrial warehouses, or large gatherings in venues like the Metropolitano and Vistalegre.
In this episode of Hoy en EL PAÍS, Ana Fuentes talks with journalist Lucía Franco, author of a report on the rise of evangelism in Madrid, and with Eduardo Saldaña, co-director of El Orden Mundial. Together they analyze why these churches grow among vulnerable migrant communities, how they have spread from the United States and Latin America, and why sectors of the right approach them for their ability to mobilize Latino votes, despite contradictions with part of their migration discourse.
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