Answer:
The Americas were colonized by a number of powers based in Europe, and the politics of those mother nations was majorly impactful upon the residual "character" of North and Latin America. North America, which was predominantly colonized by the British, held on to the upheavals imparted upon religion by Henry VIII, whose break from the Catholic church allowed Protestantism to enter into England, and follow colonists into the New World. In Latin America, which was primarily colonized by Spain, Catholicism was predominant and the mission system was employed broadly to spread the faith amongst natives, which led to the modern prevalence of the Catholic denomination.