LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES ON RELIGION AND POLITICS

Latin American Research Review

Hispanic American Historical Review, 2017

The election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Latin America's first pope has rightly led to a renewed interest in the traditions of Latin American Catholicism. The editors of this volume, though aware of the potentially ephemeral nature of this interest, nevertheless seek to take advantage of it to present a series of essays on one of the most important of these traditions over the past half century: Catholic Activism. This phenomenon, which the editors define as organized and collective responses by the clergy or laity to effect social and political change within communities, arose in response to the Church's almost complete loss of authority in public life in most Catholic societies at the end of the nineteenth century. Rerum Novarum, the papal encyclical which marks the point of departure for the collection as a whole, was Leo XIII's exhortation to Catholics to address this. In setting out a coherent statement of Catholic social teaching for the first time, Leo also implicitly acknowledged that Catholics could no longer expect the state to enforce their social or moral codes. Catholics were now in fierce competition with both liberals and socialists (of various stripes) to influence how state power would be exercised and they needed to organize and mobilize if they were to persuade governments to advance their agenda. How this story played out in Europe is reasonably well known, but not so its Latin American outcome. As the editors point out, the historiography (and, indeed, popular imagination) of Catholic Activism has been heavily skewed towards the post-Vatican II periodto the liberation theology movement, mass youth rallies, and now to Bergoglio's illustrious career. In the historiography of Europe and North America, there is a sense that Vatican II represented the culmination of the process by which Catholics and the Catholic hierarchy reconciled themselves to coexisting within multi-confessional secular states. Perceptions have been otherwise in the case of Latin America. For historians of many Latin America countries, Vatican II has seemed rather more like the start than

American Political Science Review, 2000

Introduction to EIAL on Catholicism and Society, 2019

The Catholic Historical Review 10, no. 1, 2024

Catholicism, Revolution, and Counter-Revolution in Twentieth-Century Latin America, 2020

Revolution divided Roman Catholics during the twentieth century in Latin America. Although Catholic activists formed ranks on all sides of Latin America’s social conflict, revolutionary anticlericalism, land reform, and state education became important wedge issues that kept the Catholic Church hierarchy on the side of counterrevolution. This chapter surveys Latin America’s “Big Three” social revolutions, beginning with Mexico (1910–1940), Cuba at mid-century, and Nicaragua in the late 1970s and 1980s. Catholic political and social allegiances, as well as the similarities across the century provide the focus of much of the chapter. The chapter argues that Latin America’s Cold War added ideological pungency and superpower conflicts to the region’s already festering mix of social exclusion, poverty, and oligarchical hegemony. Some attention is given to the emergence of the liberationist perspective. The result of Latin America’s revolutionary century can be seen in a shift within the ...

International Journal of Latin American Religions

This issue includes a selection of articles focusing on changes in Latin American Catholicism from the mid-twentieth century onwards caused by a variety of factors of cultural, social, political, and economic nature, which had a profound impact on the subcontinent's religious panorama. One key-element is the pluralization of the religious field. Other aspects have to do with political changes, economic turbulences, social upheavals, and cultural transformations. All these factors have reshaped the profile of Latin American Catholicism indicated by the rise of new Catholic movements, theological approaches, and religious experiences.

The Ecumenical Review, 1985

Pope John's calling of a Council could hardly have been more timely for the whole Christianity. But it was particularly so for Latin America. Of thisas many of his references showthe Pope was himself clearly aware. In a special way, the history of the Christian churches in the decades prior to the Council in Latin America and the Council came together in a mutual relation which would prove extraordinarily fruitful for Christian faith in our subcontinent for decades after. I intend in this article to explore briefly only one aspect of this relation, namely the importance of the doctrinal (taking the word in a wide sense) emphases of the Council for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Latin America.' Of course, I am aware that a similar timeliness and analogous aspects can and have been claimed for other areas of the world. The quest for renewal In many ways, the thirties (of our century) was a decisive turning point in Latin American history and society. "The invisible people", as an Argentine bishop saidthe peasants, the Indians, the mixed bloods, hidden away in the countryside-"became visible." Their presence disrupted the set political, economic, social arrangements of traditional society, laying bare the deep problematic nature of our societies. But it also called the Catholic Church to reassess its pastoral methods, its social commitments, its self-understanding in the traditional Christendom form. Briefly, as many priests, theologians and bishops began to put it in the late forties and fifties, Latin America had become "a missionary field" for the Catholic Church. Such is the judgment of Pope John XXIII himself and the consciousness that most Latin American bishops reflect as they gather for the Council. This awareness had already produced in the two decades prior to the Council some significant results. I want to identify three areas in which the "missionary thrust" finds expression:

2012

Over the past two decades, Latin America has drawn considerable attention as a region of political and economic transformation, providing a global reference for democratization coupled with economic growth. Leftist governments in places such as Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina, and Uruguay have enacted progressive reforms while countries such as Mexico, Colombia, and Peru have reinforced neoliberal policies emphasizing free trade and foreign investment. With the decline of the Washington Consensus, Latin America's diverse political economy offers a range of visions for the future. Within Latin America's contemporary political and economic landscapes, social movements have emerged as major political forces, bringing down governments in Argentina, Bolivia, and Ecuador, and fighting for rights and recognition across the region. Meanwhile, dramatic increases in crime, especially linked to drug trafficking, have created a panorama of devastating violence. Paradoxically, then, the deepening of citizenship and democratic institutions associated with Latin America's so-called "pink tide," or turn to the left, has been accompanied by zones of crisis, where ordinary people suffer extreme levels of poverty and insecurity. At first glance, religion seems absent from center stage in Latin America at the beginning of the 21st century. But a closer look shows the region's socio-political life to be permeated by religious discourses, practices, leaders, and institutions. As citizenship is constructed in both social movements and zones of crisis, religion shapes how people understand themselves, the trajectories of collective mobilizations, and individual survival strategies.

Religions, 2023

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