Religion: A Lesson on Liberation

Rome's newest pronouncement

Beginning with pronouncements during his 1979 visit to Latin America, Pope John Paul II has devoted great attention to establishing a carefully balanced policy on political activism for Roman Catholic clergy. On the one hand, he staunchly advocates social justice and wants priests and nuns to do likewise. On the other, he has warned the clergy about becoming too involved in secular affairs and about the dangers of Marxist ideology, especially in Latin America. The second theme was driven home in a stern 1984 Instruction on the Theology of Liberation, defining the "deviations" that the Vatican found in certain versions of...

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