Latinnews Archive
Latin American Weekly Report - 5 April 1985
CELAM bishops avoid a 'cock fight' BUT PARTISAN BATTLE LOOMS IN PERU
Reluctant to touch such controversial questions as liberation theology, the Latin American bishops' conference, Celam, limited its declarations to general condemnations of poverty and violence during the organisation's annual meeting, held in Costa Rica last month. Church sources said the deeply divided hierarchy did not want to get into a 'cock fight' over theology or equally polemical issues such as Central American wars. Even the Contadora peace initiative was treated in the most general terms and not even named in the bishops' statements, possibly because it was considered a 'spent' process -- in the words of Celam's Colombian secretary-general, Bishop Dario Castrillon.
The decision to avoid confrontation may have been reinforced by the absence of the leaders of the Church's conservative and progressive wings -- respectively, Colombian Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo and Cardinal Aloisio Lorscheider, archbishop of Fortaleza, Brazil. Although they were expected at the Celam meeting, the cardinals were called to Rome at the last minute. Church sources speculated that their trip might be related to the Pope's desire to heal the deep divisions in the region's church. If so, the recent criticisms of liberation theology by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger will hardly help matters. Head of the powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the German-born cardinal has been waging war on liberation theology since early last year, recently denouncing a book by Brazilian theologian, Leonardo Boff, as 'unsustainable'. While no disciplinary action will be taken against Boff, Ratzinger's 11-page criticism is a slap in the face for Boff's supporters in the Brazilian hierarchy, including Lorscheider.
During his recent visit, the Pope mited his conservations on liberation theology to the Peruvian bishpos' statement issued last November. Though generally favourable to the theology, particularly the preferential option for the poor, the document cost the bishops months of infighting, leaving the hierarchy exhausted and bitterly divided. The bishops skirted the topic during John Paul's visit but debate will surely reopen this month when leading lay members of the Bartolome de las Casas study group -- run by the father of liberation theology, Gustavo Gutierrez -- participate in the elections.
Although Gutierrez himself has remained aloof, some of his closest sollaborators are running for congress on the Izquierda Unida (IU) ticket, including Javier Iguinez, IU's chief economic strategist. The Marxist coalition is expected to come second in the mid-April contest behind Apra candidate Alan Garcia. Most of IU's support comes from Church groups in urban slums, which helped elect Lima's mayor, Alfonso Barrantes, an independent Marxist and IU's presidential candidate.
The religious right is not expected to take this lying down. At least a third of the Peruvian hierarchy considers liberation theology Marxist and is prepared to condemn Gutierrez, despite the influence of Cardinal Juan Landazuri Ricketts, Gutierrez's principal protector. The right is growing steadily, thanks to the support of Papal Nuncio Mario Tagliaferri, who has backed the appointment of such conservative prelates as Alcides Mendoza Castro, the archbishop of Cuzco and former military vicar and army general, and Federico Richter, the pro-military archbishop of Ayacucho.
The right-wing Opus Dei movement, which counts five members in the hierarchy, has also extended its influence through the appointment of auxiliary bishops and control over seminaries and a local university linked to an Opus Dei institution in Spain.
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