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 the radical movement known as liberation theology.
Last week, with John Paul's endorsement, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, issued a major new pronouncement on liberation theology. The 17,000-word Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation reaffirms the earlier document but knits its warning about false, atheistic schemes into a positive discussion of human liberation as the work of God. The document affirms social justice as an essential responsibility of the church and even offers a carefully couched allowance for political revolution. The obvious aim: to position Rome as the leader of "authentic" liberation, as distinguished from unworthy forms.
In a related development, the Vatican unexpectedly dropped the sanctions that had been imposed on Franciscan Father Leonardo Boff, the leading liberation theologian of Brazil, who had been forbidden to speak publicly for nearly a year. "The decision on my case cleansed the atmosphere before publication of the document," said Boff, who teaches at a seminary in Petropolis. He believes that the lifting of sanctions demonstrated a new Vatican attitude of openness and "confidence in the (Brazilian) bishops," two-thirds of whom side with some form of liberation theology. Nonetheless, Rome's action has not eliminated the rift between Boff and conservatives in the hierarchy. Moreover, it is still uncertain whether Rome will require Boff to retract some of the arguments in his troublesome book Church: Charism and Power (Crossroad), which described the relation between the hierarchy and laity in terms of class struggle.
According to Vatican sources, it was the Pope's idea to issue the documents on liberation theology, a negative warning followed by a more positive evocation of freedom. Ratzinger's opponents, fearing his hard-line reputation, lobbied to have John Paul take over the second document and write it as an encyclical. Instead, the Pope and Ratzinger agreed to incorporate advice on the contents of the second text from 35 national conferences of bishops, and as a result the Instruction has a moderate tone. The general drift of the new Instruction became known at an extraordinary meeting at the Vatican last month between the Pope and leading Brazilian bishops. John Paul told the Brazilians that, "purified of elements that could adulterate it, with grave consequences for the faith, this theology of liberation is not only orthodox but necessary."