Abstract

Between 2008 and 2009, a team of researchers from the Institute of Geography of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile studied the ways in which the Catholic Church relates itself and contributes to the drawing to the sociospatial landscape in Santiago's Metropolitan Area. I t did so by the analysis and interpretation of the localization of Catholic buildings; the socioeconomic base of the inhabitants of those areas; the intercensal variation of the number of Catholics between the years 1992 and 2002; and the founding concepts of that Church in the localization of its infraestructure through the years. Specifically, the objectives of the investigation were to locate and spatialize the Catholic building, to characterize and analyze the Catholic population fo r the 1992-2002 period and to know the guidalines of the Catholic institution fo r the location of its building.