Buenos Aires, Argentina - Tucked between car showrooms and billboards in a drab Buenos Aires suburb, the church of Jesus Christ is Love seems an unlikely place to find God, but worshipers arrive by the busload.
In Argentina and across traditionally Catholic Latin America, Protestant churches like this one are booming, and the dwindling Catholic flock will be high on the agenda when Pope Benedict meets bishops during a visit to Brazil in May.
Catholics acknowledge that the future of their church lies in Latin America -- home to half the world's 1 billion Catholics. But what was once a virtual monopoly has been steadily challenged, not only among the poor in places like Brazil and Guatemala, but also in traditionally more middle-class countries like Argentina and Chile.
One recent Sunday, worshipers at Jesus Christ is Love wept and waved their hands in the air as others took turns to tell how God cured them of AIDS or helped their son quit drinking.
"They say AIDS is incurable but I've seen various cases of it being cured, so I thank God for curing these people," said pastor Adrian Juniors, a former pop singer who jokes, sings and sways his way through the first service of the day.
Argentina's abandoned cinemas are the venue of choice for churches looking to accommodate their growing flocks. But competition has become so fierce that the church of Jesus Christ is Love was outbid by another of the exuberant Protestant churches gaining ground here and had to leave its cinema home.
In its new premises down the road, pastor Juniors does three services on Sunday so everyone can attend.
"The evangelical church has an appetite for conquest, for the social and political conquest that the Catholic Church had 500 years ago," said Alejandro Seselovsky, author of a book about Argentina's evangelical boom.
In Latin America, the term evangelical is used to cover numerous Protestant churches that stress the need to make a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and pay less attention to the doctrines and church structures that are key to Catholicism.
Their growth has been led by Pentecostal churches such as Jesus Christ is Love, which emphasise healing as a gift of the Holy Spirit and often have charismatic preachers.
'LIFE CHANGES'
In Argentina, where an economic crisis plunged millions into poverty in 2001 and 2002, the Pentecostals are strongest in the poorer neighbourhoods and shantytowns that circle the cities. Though many worshipers are middle-class, their preaching seems to resonate most strongly among the nearly 30 percent of Argentines who live in poverty.
Some cite their belief that having faith in God brings an end to common problems such as drinking or adultery.
"When you let Christ into your heart, you love your wife, you paint the house, mow the lawn, stop wasting money on gambling and bad habits. Life changes, and that's what marks the difference," said Ruben Proietti, a Baptist pastor who heads the ACIERA association of evangelical churches.
There are no official figures for the number of Protestants in Argentina, but Fortunato Mallimaci -- a University of Buenos Aires sociology professor who has researched the issue -- said surveys showed 10 to 12 percent of Argentines identify themselves as evangelicals, rising to 20 to 25 percent in poor areas on the edges of cities.
"The monopoly that the Catholic Church had ... has been broken," he said. "It's a problem (for the church) to position itself as just one more religion in a society in which identities aren't for life, where people look for a bit of this and a bit of that."
At Jesus Christ is Love, there are electric guitars, ushers in matching lime-green uniforms and a pastor who tells anecdotes about his old boss. Across town at the Light of the World Evangelical Work church, a canteen serves up meals to children from a shantytown and holds adult literacy classes.
The Catholic Church is taking note.
"There's a lot to be learnt from them, starting with the apostolic enthusiasm they have," said Father Ignacio Perez del Viso, a Jesuit.
'FAITH MOVES MOUNTAINS'
Young people are attracted to the churches through evangelical rock bands complete with merchandising and open-air healing events in football stadiums, Seselovsky said.
"It's impressive. The quantity of people involved, the massive shows they put on, all so close to society, but on the other hand so far detached," he said.
This detachment from the mainstream is becoming a bigger concern for some of Argentina's evangelicals.
It is an election year in the country, and local newspapers have speculated that members of the centre-left government of Nestor Kirchner, who has clashed repeatedly with Catholic leaders, may be courting the evangelicals.
Pastor Salomon Aguilera, a Venezuelan who leads the Light of the World Evangelical Work church, wants greater recognition, not just occasional generosity by politicians seeking votes.
"Over the years, we've been realizing we need to have a presence (and) we think we're going to see our representatives in Congress," he said, sitting in a plastic chair in the simple, turquoise-walled church. "Faith moves mountains."
As Argentina's economy recovers from the 2001-2002 crisis, some churches have had to leave their cheaply rented homes in shutdown cinemas and theatres. But most agree the evangelical boom is here to stay.