Claim about Catholic countries having high poverty and crime rates

Claim:

"The most catholic countries in Africa have some of the highest poverty and crime rates."

Answer:

I remind you of the point I made earlier: Religious affiliation need not be a very good indicator of religiosity. Finland, where I live, is perhaps the most Lutheran country in the world, with more than 80 percent of people belonging to the Luther church. Still, only about 1-2 percent of people attend services on a weekly basis and an overwhelming majority being for the gay marriages, for example. This granted, I do strongly believe, that Catholicism, were it exists, does a lot of good in Africa as well as in any other continent.

In Uganda, at least, which is a predominantly Catholic country the World Bank economists Reinikka and Svensson find that: "Working for God matters" in a paper titled "Working for God? Evaluating Service Delivery of Religious Not-for-Profit Health Care Providers in Uganda"