Pope Francis. During the military junta, Fr. Jorge Bergoglio headed the influential Argentine Jesuit order of priests. His own politics were openly conservative and anti-communist. He was deeply hostile to liberation theology which focused on the needs of the poor and was a growing movement among Latin America’s nuns and priests. For decades, many have accused Bergoglio of collaborating with the junta and informing on these left-wing Catholics.
For people in Latin America who were part of the left leaning Catholics, such as myself, the pope, even with all his limitations, were good news. He also delayed the advance of some very reactionary elements in the Catholic church, which is still majoritary in Latin American countries such as Brazil. So even knowing his problems (including his participation in Argentinian dictatorship), I still think his term as the pope was positive.
i heard that was the trend in latin america from the 60s onwards, but then john paul the second feared the catholic church in latam would get too powerful and started moving power away from it (somehow)
Religions often reflect the economic systems and class struggles; actual socialist forms of the religion would have been threat to the capitalism and feudal vestiges of the Holy See as an (European) institution. Sometimes it feels like if one really believed in a benevolent god then they would become a socialist but then I realise this is an idealistic non-materialistic approach to understanding humanity.
His history in Argentina is damning: https://socialism.com/fs-article/pope-francis-the-catholic-church-and-argentinas-dirty-war/
His response:
^This. The bar for a better pope is really low. I did, however, enjoy some Catholics freaking out over some of the more progressive things he said.
For people in Latin America who were part of the left leaning Catholics, such as myself, the pope, even with all his limitations, were good news. He also delayed the advance of some very reactionary elements in the Catholic church, which is still majoritary in Latin American countries such as Brazil. So even knowing his problems (including his participation in Argentinian dictatorship), I still think his term as the pope was positive.
It would have been better if liberation theology was the more de facto institutional catholicism.
i heard that was the trend in latin america from the 60s onwards, but then john paul the second feared the catholic church in latam would get too powerful and started moving power away from it (somehow)
Religions often reflect the economic systems and class struggles; actual socialist forms of the religion would have been threat to the capitalism and feudal vestiges of the Holy See as an (European) institution. Sometimes it feels like if one really believed in a benevolent god then they would become a socialist but then I realise this is an idealistic non-materialistic approach to understanding humanity.