The Jesuits were a Catholic order that was founded in Europe, but which soon expanded to South America to spread the word of God - mainly to Paraguay.
However, they had a different way of evangelizing, which made them as interesting as it did controversial... hated, even. You see, the Jesuits didn't believe in forcing their beliefs on the local indigenous tribes or forcing conversion.
Instead, they integrated themselves into the indigenous beliefs and allowed the natives to express themselves, as long as they understood what Catholicism meant. This, and the fact that Jesuits believed in communal living, social justice, and a huge respect for the poor, led other branches of Catholicism (and even royal figures) to see them as dangerous Marxists who needed to be eliminated.
But this story has quite a few twists and turns before we get to the end - find out exactly what happened to the Jesuits in Latin America in this week's episode of the Learn Spanish with Stories podcast!
Transcript of this episode is available at: https://podcast.lingomastery.com/listen/1267