Fr Gustavo Gutiérrez said that with Francis it's easier to push the global Church to have a special concern for the poor, "something we find in the Scriptures".

But the Peruvian theologian said there has been no "rehabilitation" of Liberation Theology under Pope Francis, because the movement was never formally rejected in the first place.

"To speak of rehabilitation would be inaccurate," Fr Gutiérrez told reporters in Rome ahead of a Caritas Internationalis assembly, at which he is guest theologian.

"It would imply that there was a de-habilitation first," he said.

Two documents were issued about Liberation Theology in the 1980s by then-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

They praised the movement's concern for the poor and for justice, but condemned a tendency to mix Marxist social analysis and concepts such as "class struggle" with religious commitments to end poverty and injustice.

"I believe that it's clear now that the key element of Liberation Theology is the special care for the poor," Fr Gutiérrez said on Tuesday.

He stressed that the CDF never went as far as to ban Liberation Theology.

Fr Gutiérrez also said that even though he was "very happy" to be invited to participate in Caritas's general assembly, attention shouldn't be drawn to LiberationTheology, but to "the rehabilitation of the Gospel, the poor and the peripheries".

The Peruvian thinker said that while he holds a high regard for theology and theologians, at the end of the day "theology . . . has a modest role".

"What matters in the life of a Christian is to follow Jesus and to put his teachings into practice."

"There's no passage in the Bible that says ‘Go and do theology'," Fr Gutiérrez said, "but there's one that says, ‘Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations'."

Sources

• Crux
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

Mounting a defense could take years, with long, confidential letters sent back and forth to the Vatican's powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

For lay people, non-compliance could mean losing university tenure.

For priests, brothers, and sisters, it could mean an order of silence or even removal from your religious order.

But in a unique turn of events, the theologian credited with founding the sometimes-controversial liberation theology movement was invited to speak at the Vatican Tuesday by none other than the current leader of its doctrinal office, Cardinal Gerhard Müller.

Dominican Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez was a surprise guest and speaker during a book launch for a new book by the cardinal, titled Poor for the Poor: The Mission of the Church.

The book, which has a preface from Pope Francis, also has two chapters written by the theologian and is largely focused on explaining — sometimes even defending — liberation theology. Continue reading.

Source: National Catholic Reporter

Image: NS/Reuters/Max Rossi

A report by the Religion News Service noted that the meeting can be a sign of "increasing favor" for liberation theology, which has been a subject to hostility and censure in the Vatican.

Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, announced the coming meeting on September 8.

Liberation theology arose as a Catholic response to the Marxist movements that fought Latin America's military dictatorships in the 1960s and '70s. It criticized the church's close relations, including often overt support, with the regimes.

It affirmed that, rather then just focusing on seeking salvation in the afterlife, Catholics should act in the here and now against unjust societies that breed poverty and need.

In his 1971 book, Gutierrez wrote that the church should have a "preferential option for the poor," following the example of Jesus, who chose to live mostly with poor and marginalized people.

In the '80s, the Vatican's doctrinal office, then headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who later became Benedict XVI) condemned liberation theology for its "serious ideological deviations."

The RNS report said the coming meeting between Pope Francis and Gutierrez "signaled a thaw in the tension between liberation theology and the Vatican.

Source

Religion News Service

Image: d.umn.edu