Latin american liberation theology in the light of catholic social teaching

Fragmentation of the society and poverty existed in Latin America both before the 15th century when the Europeans colonized this region, as well as in the second half of the 20th century when liberation theology came into existence. Liberation theologians maintained that the Church cannot stay aside of the oppression that envelops the region but should rather condemn it and seek to transform the existing order through social and political means. The theologians perceived a division of the society into different classes and oppression both on the national and internationals levels, while maintaining that Christian love of one’s neighbor is incapable of uniting the polarized classes. Liberation theology employed Marxist methodology to explain the present situation. Liberation was reduced to a political and socio-economic level, while interpretations of the Scripture highlighted the political aspect of liberation. Theologians judged society structures to be sinful and sought to liberate people from socio-economic oppression through a social revolution. Modern social teaching of the Catholic Church emerged in 1891 with Pope Leo XIII ‘s encyclical letter Rerum Novarum – On Capital and Labor. Catholic social teaching is based on ethics, theological anthropology and the conception of human salvation. Viewing human work from an anthropological perspective, the dignity of human work and his participation in the work of the Creator is emphasized. An important principle of Catholic social thought is solidarity; it indicates people’s duty to help those in need both on the national and international level. The Church also stresses the principle of subsidiarity, according to which nothing should be done by more complex organizations which can be done by the people, communities or associations. The Catholic Church maintains that socialism is opposed to justice, whereby no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist. It suggests improving the capitalist order not politically but rather in the light of the Gospel, whereby human society can heal by a return to Christian life and institutions. In 1984 and 1986 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which oversees the doctrine of the Catholic Church, condemned the liberation theology for employing Marxist methodology, since the latter is inseparable from atheist ideology. The liberation theology’s view of ongoing class struggle is incompatible with the Christian idea of unity. The Church maintained that the notion of liberation used by the liberation theologians was erroneously reduced to political and socio-economic aspects, without taking into account the most important form of slavery – slavery to sin. Also corrupting was the liberation theologians’ interpretation of the Scripture which highlighted the political rather than religious aspect of liberation. Although the liberation theologians claimed they could produce new structures of the society through a social revolution, the Church views evil of the structures as a consequence of man’s actions, so evil will remain until people’s hearts are transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ