Q:

Clarification of a comment on Catholicism by Octavio Paz

In Octavio Paz's Labyrinth of Solitude while writing about the Aztec Religion in passing he says:

The situation prefigured the introduction of Catholicism which is also a religion superimposed upon an original and still living base

What is this 'still living base' that he assumes? It seems to me it can only be the polytheistic religion of the Romans. Is this correct?
(At first sight this question may seem to belong to Christianity.StackExchange; but I assume that they would dispute the validity of a superimposition).

A:

I would say Judaism, being that it is the base of Catholicism and Christianity in general and  at the same time the original or first form of the denominations, while the Hebrew community and Jewish practices are being relayed to be current during the time Catholicism had been integrated. I believe he is saying both religions suffered forced extensions(alternates) of the original forms of the ideologies, while the original is still very much in current practice. Superimposed having a forceful, assimilation type implication, the people of the culture where left without choice and both civilizations and religion were made to deal with a very similar issue. And prefigure meaning coming before hand, implies that this happened in North America(Aztec) before the introduction of Catholicism in Europe. The title preface "says in passing" and the situation being prefigured, means(only on a personal level) that it was almost as a prediction of events, one leading or making way for the next course of events.

