A new political stance of the Church

At the end of the fifties the so-called “Social Catholicism” came into being in most of the Latin American countries. “Catholic Action” and various youth organizations dared to resist social injustices. The call for social change became louder. These critical Christians developed new forms of organization by venturing into new areas of society, spreading liberating political views and fighting for human rights. Then came the Second Vatican Council and the Latin American Bishops’ Conference of Medellin (1968). Liberation Theology grew out of these basic experiences.

As a result of this, the political role of the Church changed fundamentally in different countries. What the Bishops began in Medellin, they confirmed in Puebla (1979). From then on, they condemned with prophetic clarity the dreadful poverty and marginalization which affected large parts of the population. Since then, the proclamation of the Good News has gone hand in hand with the condemnation of the injustice experienced especially by the rural population and workers. But the indigenous peoples, the Afro-Americans, and women as special victims of unjust structures, do not yet come into the range of vision of Liberation Theology.

Liberation Theology examines poverty and misery under two aspects:

·         from a mystical theological point of view, poverty is considered a blasphemy. Liberation Theology develops out of a particular experience of God. Poverty is compared with the servitude in Egypt, where God sees people’s misery and leads them into freedom (cf. Ex 2,23; 3,7-10). We meet this liberating God in the poor and excluded people. Their situation is the result of an unjust system, which must therefore be condemned. This system lives on an accumulation of wealth in the hands of very few people. The great majority has no share in the goods of this world and is condemned to a life of abject poverty and marginali­zation. For this reason, the Bishops in Medellin adopted with prophetic courage the option for the poor, a decision for those who cannot benefit from the affluence. If God makes a preferential option for the poor, then the Church must do the same (cf. LU 19). This option means:

• Priority: In the order of values and in the behaviour of the Church, the poor take the first place.
• Solidarity: The Church may not only express it simply in beautiful words but must take its place at the side of the poor and show it in attitude and in action.
• No exclusiveness: There should be no discrimination, not even against the rich; however, the rich are called both to conversion and concern for the poor.

·         We confirm the need for the conversion of the entire Church in the sense of a preferential option for the poor, envisaging their complete liberation (Puebla 1134; cf. 1144, 711, 1165).

·         The poor are not to be regarded as objects, as people to whom the Church is giving at­ten­­tion, or as an object the Church is taking care of. The poor themselves are part of the new evangelizing and political power. They are the new subject in the Church and in society: people with their own power and dignity, with initiative and responsibility. They organize themselves to fight for their rights, and they evangelize, by they bring the Good News of Christ into the Church. Only when the Church becomes poorer, simpler and more prophetic through the poor, will she be what Jesus wants her to be (cf. 1 Cor 12; Medellin 2,9; 5,15; 10,2; 12,13; 14,7-10; Puebla 96; 485; 622; 629; 640; 1134; 1142; 1147; 1177; 1309; Santo Domingo 178ff, 296).

CCFMC, Lesson Unit 20,C 1.1