ARGENTINA: The Bullfighters

Ever since he came to power, Argentine Strongman Juan Peroón has maintained an uneasy truce with the Catholic Church. In a country where more than 90% of the people are Catholics, no practical-minded dictator could do otherwise. But recently, Perón’s press and unions began sniping at the clergy, and last week Juan Perón himself leaped in with a biting attack on several Catholic priests. Some Catholic organizations, he apparently feared, were forming an embryonic Christian Democratic Party to oppose him.

Perón first suavely made a careful distinction between the church and its priests. The country’s highest Catholic leaders, he explained, supported his drive against “individual priests who do not know their duty.” Said Perón: “I don’t know why all these Catholic organizations —doctors, lawyers, farm owners—are suddenly created. We too are Catholics. Only we don’t say that we are Catholic Peronistas. We just say that we are Peronistas.”

Thus self-cast in the role of Defender of the Faith, Perón declaimed: “[One priest] says that the choice is between Christ or Perón. I have never been in conflict with Christ. What I am trying to do is to defend Christ’s doctrine, which for 2,000 years priests like these have been trying to destroy.”

His adversaries in the church, Perón explained, resembled a bullfighter goading a bull to attack the red cape—that is, the church itself. “We would make a big mistake to behave like a bull,” said Perón. “We shall not charge against the cape, but against the bullfighter . . . and we know who he is.”

Perón named, by name, three offending bishops and 21 priests who, he said, had been fomenting antistate activities; he promised to “take action against these people …” Next day, as if on cue, young Peronistas began greeting priests in the streets of Buenos Aires as “Mr. Bullfighter.” A Peronista paper printed pictures of the three bishops under the headline TO THE PILLORY. One of Perón’s unions barred priests from attending union functions. Some of the priests named by Perón were fired from teaching and police-chaplain jobs.

Although one incidental effect of the campaign was to help distract Argentina’s attention from chronically rising prices, there seemed little doubt that Perón’s main purpose was just what it appeared: to stamp out any possible rivals for political power. There was even some speculation that Juan Perón, although moving cautiously, was in danger of pushing the matter too far and provoking a genuine popular desire for the Catholic party he fears.