In the second half of the 20th century, Latin America was surprised by religious changes that not only were transforming the religious panorama, but also influencing both society and politics.

Meeting of Base Community in Uruguay // Reunión de Comunidad de Base en Uruguay

Beginning in the 1950’s, some in the Catholic Church—not just priests and other religious, but workers, peasants and students—began to be concerned about returning to the system of Christendom established between the welfare state and the Church in Latin America.  In other words, in a Christendom system, the state provided the material resources, and the Church took charge of social works like education, healthcare and providing assistance to the needy, matters that usually would be responsibility of the state, and that at the same time, this religious support was the source of its legitimacy.  The Christendom system certainly was not the model proposed by the primitive Christian communities.

Gradually those that were upset by the system of Christendom sought a return to origins, in other words to the Bible and the first Christian communities to find a new way to live Christianity in the context of Latin America’s reality—violence, poverty and inequality— at the end of the 20th century.  Some dioceses, groups of priests and lay members began to implement pastoral changes that were able to provide a more coherent response of the Christian message to the Latin American reality.  But, above all, youth groups of workers, students and peasants formed small grass-root communities that analyzed the current reality and, based on the Bible and social doctrine, fostered new views and ways to face the Church’s mission.

For example, in Brazil, at a  conference of the Catholic University Youth (JUC, after its acronym in Spanish) in 1960,) the student board  presented a paper that by SEEING the socioeconomic and political reality, they also saw the need for a social change given the huge social and political injustices.  Therefore, they decided to ACT by committing themselves to change that reality.  These changes implied an agrarian reform, fighting capitalist monopolies, national freedom from international interference, and a reform of the educational system.  They based their stance on Christian authors that the movement had been working on from Thomas Aquinas to the French philosophers Jacques Maritain and Emmanuel Mounier, and right up to several social papal letters from the 20th century.  Their conclusions were original and went beyond the Church’s traditional view of social doctrine or the points defended by Christian Democracy.  The document took many Brazilian conservative bishops by surprise as they witnessed the growth of this youth movement, becoming alarmed by the possible Marxist infiltration or by the use of a Marxist vocabulary inside the Church itself.

Second Meeting of the Conferencia Episcopal Latinoamericana // Reunión de la Segunda Conferencia Episcopal Latinoamericana, Seminario Mayor de Medellín, de 1968

Nonetheless, official Church meetings like the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and continental meetings like those of Latin-American bishops in Medellin (1968) and Puebla (1979), gave their support to these kind of movements in the Church.  Believers of any social and racial status were able to form small grassroot communities in all the parishes. As a result, many of them began to experience Christianity in a practical and powerful way, and they committed themselves to change the social injustices that affected the poorest people.

Exactly 50 years ago, Gustavo Gutierrez published Liberation Theology in Lima, inspired by his pastoral work accompanying the grassroot communities in his parish, a poor neighborhood of Lima, but also by the spiritual path taken by students and professionals whom he advised in Peru and elsewhere in Latin America.  However, his experience was not unique. In the 60s and 70s, authors like Juan Luis Segundo in Uruguay, Lucio Gera and Jose Miguez Bonino in Argentina, Leonardo Boff, e Ivone Guevara, Ruben Alves in Brazil, Jon Sobrino and Elsa Tamez in Central America, among many others, published theological works with a similar perspective and a lot of people were talking about liberation theology.

Nowadays, many people say that liberation theology is dead.  But no, it isn’t dead.  Ideas cannot be killed. However, many of the Christian lay people and pastors that were its inspirers and followers were indeed killed—just as at the beginning the elites tried to kill Christianity and for centuries killed Christians accusing them of crimes they didn’t committed. The same has happened with the ecclesiastic movement associated with liberation theology.

Theology is an intellectual effort concerning the way humans can live the experience of God.  Pastoral theology, similarly to liberation theology, it’s about all a reflection, in other words systematization, of the experience, of the way to live Christianity.  In this case, the way of living it in the second half of the Twentieth Century in Latin-America.  But also in other countries, because liberation theology it’s a product of universal Christian history and not only Catholic.  Therefore, in other Christian churches like the Presbyterian, Lutheran or the Methodist, there was an ecclesiastic transformation and a theological production along the lines of liberation theology.

Pope Paul VI received by President Carlos Lleras Restrepo // Papa Paulo VI recibido por el Presidente Carlos Lleras Restrepo, en Bogotá, agosto 1968

Traditionally, theology based its tenets on several philosophical concepts in the 60’s in which these Christian groups and the theologians in particular talked about the social reality and the sciences that help us to understand it.   For example, the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC) studied, the theory of dependency; Argentine-Mexican philosopher Enrique Dussel examined  the history of Latin-America Church from the perspective of poor people.  These ideas from the social scientists, of course, became the first outlines of what we today know as the theory of decolonization used by the communities and theologians to conduct the first theological elaborations denominated as liberation theology and a Latin American theology conducted by women.  Occasionally, they used Marxist concepts to outline and explain social reality. Latin American theological efforts, although they do not  invalidate the dialogue with philosophy,  also dialogue with other human and social sciences.  Therefore, this interdisciplinary perspective gives a framework to theologians of both sexes to understand and make explicit the experience of God among the impoverished communities of Latin America.

Let’s look back to explain that liberation theology was not completely apart from the Church as  a whole, but to examine why it was persecuted, why some  said that it was dead, but that nevertheless (and why) it remains alive and relevant.  In 1891, Leon XIII’s papal encyclical Rerum Novarum, (New Realities) resumed the Christian demand of analyzing the surrounding social situation and to care for those that suffer and live in vulnerable circumstances.  As a result, in the 20th century through many other social papal encyclicals, several Popes went in depth in this perspective that gave origin not only to the Church’s social doctrine but also to a pastoral that accompanied the great social challenges of the century.  One of them was the social situation and the growing secularization of the working class that was increasingly influenced by anarchism, socialism and communism.

To deal with a challenge of such importance, shortly before World War I, Joseph Cardijn, a priest from a working-class parish in the outskirts of Brussels, Belgium, developed a new pastoral that proposed that workers should be in charge of their own evangelization by creating grassroots communities in their workplaces.  Later on, the pastoral concept spread through Europe, the United States, and in the 30s and 40s arrived in Latin America.  The adherents to the movement tried to see, understand and specify their daily problems, among which was the need to fight for their own interests within an unjust economic system that did not provide any kind of social protection.  At the same time the question arose:  How would have Jesus reacted to this situation?  If it’s unjust, it is a sinful situation!  What does the evangelical message tell us?  How to face this sinful situation?

This is how to SEE, to JUDGE and to ACT came to be.  This new pastoral practiced by workers and youth in particular, spread to other social groups such as students, professionals, peasants— both men and women.  The change from stark spiritualism to a proactive spirituality gave rise not only to new organizations inside the Church but to important social Christian movements, that in a beginning supported Christian Democracy since it was also inspired in the Church’s social doctrine.  But, as we already mentioned, many Christians started to question the model of Christendom in which Christian Democracy was framed, and also its inability to formulate deeper and speedier social changes.  Therefore, in the 60s after breaking with Christian Democracy, more radical students, workers and peasants’ movements of Christian inspiration arose, such as like Acción Popular in Brazil, MAPU (Movimiento de Acción Popular Unitaria) in Chile and Uruguay and many others.  Some of these made up political alliances in the 70s with Marxist groups to create more extensive political fronts like Unidad Popular in Chile or Frente Amplio in Uruguay or el Partido de los Trabajadores in Brazil in the 80s.

Some of the bishops, in most of Latin American countries,  looked toward the framework of sociology to try to SEE, to understand in greater depth not only the social situation in which they had to act, but also the necessary reorganization of the diocese itself. Through the pastoral ministry, they looked for a way to integrate the work of diocesan priests, religious orders and congregations and secular movements.  This way they paved the path for synodality, in other words to walk together as People of God, (all Christians in equality) concepts that were developed by the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council.

Third Congreso Continental de Teología organized by Amerindia at the UCA // III Congreso Continental de Teología organizado por Amerindia en la UCA San Salvador, en Agosto, 2018

A Council is the meeting or assembly of bishops from around the world; therefore, the word ecumenical means universal, to treat matters that define the path of the Church.  In addition to the bishops, the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council counted on the participation of theologians as advisors, as well as representatives from religious orders, secular organizations and people from other religions and Christian denominations.  They were invited by Pope John XXIII as observers.  At the initiative of Belgian Cardinal Joseph Suenens, the Council invited 21 religious and secular women as observers.  The Council was convened by Pope John XXIII in 1959 to establish a bigger dialogue with the modern world and to give an updated answer from the Church’s perspective and for the future in an ever changing world.  The Council participants addressed an internal renovation of the Church. John XXIII spoke from the beginning about the need to pay attention to the “Signs of the Times,” among which he emphasized the situation of the poor, the workers, the so-called Third World Countries and the situation of the women.  The Council took place between 1962 and 1965 and due to John XXIII’s death in 1963, it was concluded by Paul VI.  Four important constitutions were published, including one that makes reference to the Church in the world Gaudiun et Spes (Joy and Hope).  Likewise, among the nine decrees:  The Church’s missionary activity, the activity of the secular ministry, the renewal of the religious life, the relationship with other Christian denominations and three statements concerning religious freedom, Christian education and Catholics’ relationship with other non-Christian religions. All of them were much talked about throughout Latin America.

The assembly of Latin-American bishops that took place in Medellin in 1968 took care of adapting the Council’s proposes to the Latin American context.  The bishops spoke clearly about the Latin American situation, which they described in one of their documents as being a situation of institutionalized violence and recognized it as the reason why the Latin American population lived in poverty.  They proposed all the diocese should follow the new pastoral guidelines making the parishes responsible for organizing the ecclesiastical grassroot groups using the See, Judge and Act methodology.

That’s why many organizations and social movements of Christian inspiration started fighting for fair salaries and basic services like electricity, drinking water, public transportation in the cities, and for land and water in the rural areas.  On many occasions, they competed against Marxist political parties and revolutionaries, while at other times, these groups of Christian inspiration forged alliances with them to achieve objectives that they considered to be just.

The forceful messages from religious leaders and the accompanying social mobilizations were not well received by political groups used to the Church being an ally of the state, a Church that these political groups controlled according to their whims and interests.  The traditional Church not only did not criticize the behavior of these elites, but even legitimatized it.  Therefore, in June 1969, a few months after having received the Pope in Bogotá, then-Colombian President Carlos Lleras Restrepo, his Ministry of Foreign Relationships Alfonso Lopez Michelsen, and his Ambassador Misael Pastrana Borrero paid a state visit to President Richard Nixon. Although they discussed other matters in this visit, Lleras Restrepo denounced the Latin-American Church as one of the sources of radicalness in the continent.  “President Lleras said that many of the bishops and priests in several countries had been involving themselves in university, work and student matters, so they were using the same slogans and concepts than Marxists.  Thus, these groups were talking about imperialism and capitalist exploitation” …” He thought that many of these clergymen were influenced by Marxists.  (…)  President Lleras observed that some of the foreign missionaries, like some priests from Maryknoll, for example, took up this kind of revolutionary line.  (…)  President Nixon said that he would like the Rockefeller mission to inform him about the Church and the role it has been playing in Latin America.”  (U.S. National Archives and Record Administration V 78 Visit of President Lleras of Colombia, June 12-13, 1969.  Admin.  And Substantive Miscellaneous, Briefing Book.  ARC Identifier 3999781-3999783 Record Group 59, Visit Files 1966-1970 in particular-Farewell Call of President Lleras.  White House, June 13 1969).  Reproduced from the open files of the Nixon Presidential Material Staff/Declassified A/ISS/IPS Department of State E.O. 12958, as amended September 4. 2008.

Ivone Guevara, feminist theologian // teóloga feminista

The international and local media kept on targeting any actions or speeches considered radical from the Latin-American Christians whether they were bishops or laity, and after the Rockefeller report was published, the criticism increased.  In the context of the Cold War and the dictatorships in the 60s and 70s in South America, including the wars in Central America in the 80s, the simplification of what was happening in the Church justified the Latin American persecution and martyrdom, both of Catholics and Protestants.

Inside the Church, which has never been homogeneous, but with different trends, an important turning point occurred when conservative groups led in Latin America by Alfonso López Trujillo, executive secretary of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM), took control in 1973, bolstered by the arrival of staunch anti-Communist Pope John Paul II in 1979.  In the Episcopal Assembly in Puebla in 1979, the confrontation was strong. Although the conservatives were not able to drown out the bishops interested in carrying forward the decisions taken in the Second Vatican Council and the meeting of Medellin, when these progressive bishops reached retirement age, they were speedily replaced by others aligned with John Paul II’s new vision.  These new bishops changed the pastoral’s path and those priests and sisters  who still followed the proposals of the Council and Medellin, were required to leave the parishes where they served the poor.  Theologians, like Leonardo Boff and Ivonne Guevara were silenced, even including the charismatic Dom Helder Camara who traveled around the world denouncing the Brazilian military dictatorship and its systematic violation of human rights because John Paul II thought he alone should be the Church’s only international voice.  At the same time all those young workers, student and peasant movements and the ecclesiastic grass root communities that had been the grand pastoral strategy of the Church up until 1980 were discouraged.  On the other hand, new ecclesiastic movements and communities with a more spiritualistic style were strengthen and encouraged.

Some of them gave good results, but others controlled by charismatic figures like Marcial Maciel, from the Legionnaires of Christ in Mexico and  Luis Figari from “Sodalicío de la Vida Cristiana” in Peru, eventually found themselves involved in big sexual scandals inside the Church.  These and other priests caused a huge credibility crisis not only in the Church but in society too.

The vacuum created by the Catholic Church in the periphery, due to the political and religious persecution of the priests and nuns who had responded to the call by the progressive bishops and were later expelled by the conservative faction,  began to be filled by non-Catholic Christian churches.

All of the non-Catholic Christian movements, (Protestants, Evangelicals, Independents, Pentecostals, and Neo-Pentecostals) began to be lumped together under the name of  “evangelical,” even though most are Pentecostal, with an important escalation in the last decades of the 20th century and the first ones of the 21st century.  At the beginning of the 20th Century, non-Catholics in Latin America were fewer than 1% of the population. According to a Pew Research Center report,  that percentage had increased to 19% by 2014.

The non-Catholic missions had arrived long ago, but they moved from the countryside to the cities in the second half of the 20th century, speeding up the expansion of the Pentecostal movement.  The dynamics of these churches allowed them a speedy social and spiritual insertion among the poor. They are organized around the personal leadership of pastors who are themselves part of the communities, without the long and complex training process of the Catholic priests and pastors from the historical Protestant churches. This situation not only facilitates the increase of numbers of pastors but, also  their communication and relationship with the large slums on the outskirts of cities.  The Pentecostals possess a message they swiftly mixed with the local beliefs, and they have a very flexible theology and liturgy that facilitates speedily their expansion among different sectors of the population through the use of a broad range of media and technological systems.

Dom Helder Câmara

In a very short time they not only fill up the vacuum left by the Catholic churches but also many Protestant and Evangelical historical churches adopted the Pentecostal creed.  The theological axis of the Pentecostal movement—since we are not talking about a centralized Church—affirms that the actions of the Holy Spirit allows the specific transformation of any cause of suffering which in turn not only allows the overcoming of social, family, and economic troubles but also presents it as evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives.  Contrary to liberation theology, these developed a theology of prosperity based in the belief than the more a person pays or how frequently he or she pays the tithe the more possessions he or she will receive.

However, even though these groups are the majority, not all the non-Catholic Christians or Evangelicals agree with this vision.  Some have allied themselves with Catholic groups like conservative parties, democratic and progressive parties, and others that are openly revolutionaries.

Liberation theology continued to flourish in the academic spaces of some universities like the Central American University and through theologians’ associations such as the Iberoamerican Group of Theology or the Amerindian Network that brings together theologians from Latin America and the Caribbean. Even though Amerindia is a network of Catholic origin, it has an ecumenical spirit t open to interreligious dialogue and cooperation.  The group revived the ecclesiastical tradition of helping the poor and the marginalized and has proposed new models to make the Church more communal and participative, accordingly to liberation theology as a contribution to the universality of the Church.

On the other hand, CELAM reassumed in the episcopal conference that took place in Aparecida, Brazil, in 2007 the fundamental guidelines outlined in the conferences of Medellin (1968), Puebla (1979) and the synods of the Americas and of Amazonia (2019).  All of the above combined with Pope Francis’ efforts to reassume important aspects proposed in the Second Vatican Council like building a Church of and by the poor, synodic, in other words, so that believers, priests, nuns and bishops all walk together to seek a greater faithfulness to the message of Jesus taking in consideration the huge contemporary challenges.