The long dominance of liberation theology is at the root of the decline of Catholicism in Brazil, according to Friar Clodovis Boff. Until 2007, the religious was an important theologian of liberation theology, although not as famous as his brother Leonardo, a former Catholic priest who is one of the founders of the movement, which Read more
Ernesto Cardenal, the renowned poet and Roman Catholic cleric who became a symbol of revolutionary verse in Nicaragua and around Latin America, and whose suspension from the priesthood by St. John Paul II lasted over three decades, died Mar. 1. He was 95. Known for his trademark black beret and loose white peasant shirts, the Read more
Fr Fernando Cardenal, SJ, a priest who defied the Vatican to be in the Sandanista government in Nicaragua, has died aged 82. Fr Cardenal was suspended from the priesthood after refusing to step down as education minister in the left-wing government, which he joined following the overthrow of the Somoza regime in 1979. Fr Cardenal, Read more
Pope Francis has denounced priests and bishops who “defamed” Blessed Oscar Romero after his death, in a campaign that delayed his beatification. The Pope made these remarks “off-the-cuff” while speaking on Friday to a group of Salvadoran pilgrims. Pope Francis said that Romero suffered martyrdom not just by his murder on March 24, 1980, but Read more
VATICAN CITY — Six months after becoming the first Latin American pontiff, Pope Francis invited an octogenarian priest from Peru for a private chat at his Vatican residence. Not listed on the pope’s schedule, the September 2013 meeting with the priest, Gustavo Gutiérrez, soon became public — and was just as quickly interpreted as a Read more
One of the founding fathers of Liberation Theology has acknowledged a clear “change in atmosphere” in the Church under Pope Francis. 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 Read more
The former secretary of Archbishop Oscar Romero says the martyred prelate was not a great fan of liberation theology. Msgr Jesus Delgado said Archbishop Romero was visited by proponents of liberation theology and they left him their books. Msgr Delgado said he doubted the archbishop ever read them. Liberation theology “was in opposition to what Read more
A leading campaigner of the cause of Archbishop Oscar Romero believes the slain prelate was a martyr of the church of the Second Vatican Council. The postulator of the archbishop’s cause, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, said that Romero’s killers wanted “to strike the Church that flowed from the Second Vatican Council”. On February 3, Pope Francis Read more
Pope Francis grabbed headlines recently when he announced that Rome had lifted the block on sainthood for Archbishop Óscar Romero of San Salvador, who was shot dead while saying Mass in 1980. But much less attention was given to another of the pope’s actions, one that underscores a significant shift inside the Vatican under the Read more
For decades, many liberation theologians globally have lived with a looming possibility: One day, a letter could arrive from the Vatican contesting their work, even calling it heretical or anti-Christian. 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. Read more