On first glance it looked Catholic. Cartoonishly so, actually. Mexican guy, rosary beads, self-flagellation. But they said he used to be a pastor who had a son and his former boss(?) was a reverend. Did I miss something?
shareOver 80% of Mexican citizens are Catholic and ~8% are something else so the chances are good that the unsub was Catholic but in order to be PC, the show's writers decided to spread the choices around and mention pastors and reverends which are terms not usually used by Catholics.
KS
I don't think being PC was a concern in the "foreign serial killer murders middle class American tourists" show, to be honest. I rather think that they didn't make him Catholic just to not make it a retreat of the upcoming episodes set in Spanish-speaking countries (because there cannot be a Hispanic irreligious/atheist/agnostic killer in American media, of course).
shareHe could have been Catholic. If his wife had past away he could have entered the priesthood even with a child. Also, they never said he was actually a priest. He could have been a Deacon which would have allowed for him to be married with children.
As for what they referred to him as I've found that many non-Catholics don't understand the terminology used in the Catholic church.
The terms pastor and priest can be confusing. Yes, Catholics do say pastor & reverend. A priest can be a pastor. A pastor is not necessarily a priest. Some of the differences is what was in CMBB. A pastor can be married & have children. So can a priest(but there's a lot of technicality to that I won't get in to). A pastor can be a woman. You can just decide to be a pastor; whereas, a priest undergoes many steps. Pastor is more common among Protestants. And the term pastor is a far more interchangeable term in the Spanish speaking countries.
*what the guy was doing was not cartoonish, but true to the "old" ways.