Back to the Future: Liberation Theology Rehabilitated

the AZEL PERSPECTIVE Commentary on Cuba's Future, U.S. Foreign Policy & Individual Freedoms - Issue 75

Back to the Future: Liberation Theology Rehabilitated Share Tweet Forward

For two decades, from the 1960s to the 1980s, Liberation Theology intertwined with Marxist ideology, and intensely promoted by Communist Cuba and the Soviet Union, carried out bloody “wars of national liberation” throughout Latin America. Liberation Theology iconography often included the image of a guerilla Jesus carrying a soviet weapon. Today it seems to be undergoing something of a revival.  Since divinity is not in my wheelhouse, I will stay within the boundaries of history and politics. Liberation Theology began as a movement within the Latin American Catholic Church. In its present form it is a varied inter-denominational, international movement. The origin of the Latin American brand of Liberation Theology is credited to Peruvian priest and theologian Gustavo Gutierrez. In 1971, Father Gutierrez published “A Theology of Liberation,” one of the movement’s defining books. Today, Gutierrez holds a prestigious professorship at the University of Notre Dame in the United States.   Liberation Theology has been defined as: “An interpretation of Christian faith out of the experiences of the poor.” Liberation theologians propose reading the Bible with the eyes of the poor to help them interpret the Christian faith in a new way. For example, Father Gutierrez popularized the politically charged phrase “preferential option for the poor.” The intellectual methodology of Liberation Theology relies heavily on Marxism. In its present form, the movement has distanced itself from Marxism, but uniformly advocates some form of socialism. For Gutierrez, poverty is the result of unjust social structures and dependency on developed countries. This would be simply a historical note, except for two intriguing developments. The first originates with the highest-ranking defector from communism in the 1970s, three-star general of the Romanian secret police, Ion Mihai Pacepa. The second originates with the highest authority of the Catholic Church, and the first Latin American to hold that post, Pope Francis. According to Ion Pacepa, Liberation Theology was the creation of a 1960 top-secret KGB program. The program called for the KGB to secretly take control of the World Council of Churches based in Switzerland, and use it as a cover for converting Liberation Theology into a destabilizing revolutionary tool. The KGB began by building an international religious organization called the Christian Peace Conference as an appendix to the World Peace Council. During his years at the top of the Soviet intelligence community, Mr. Pacepa managed the Romanian operations of the World Peace Council which he claims was “as purely KGB as it gets.” Mr. Pacepa goes on to explain how these organizations were able to “maneuver a group of leftist South American clerics into holding a Conference of Latin American Bishops at Medellin, Colombia.” Indeed, the 1968 Medellin Latin America Episcopal Conference laid the groundwork for Liberation Theology. It is tempting to dismiss Mr. Pacepa’s claims, but his credentials are impressive. After defecting in 1978, he helped the Central Intelligence Agency dismantle the intelligence network of communist Romania. He has written several books describing Soviet intelligence operations, and has been the target of assassination plots with millions of dollars as bounty. The CIA has described his cooperation as “an important and unique contribution to the United States.” In the years following the Medellin conference, Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI censured Liberation Theology. John Paul noted that “this conception of Christ, as a political figure, a revolutionary, as the subversive of Nazareth, does not tally with the Church’s catechisms.” For his part, Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) severely criticized Liberation Theology’s Marxist influence and accused Father Gutierrez of politically interpreting the Bible. As prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger prohibited dissident priests from teaching elements of Liberation Theology in the name of the Catholic Church. But in 2013, Pope Francis met, in the Vatican, with father Gutierrez. Following the visit, in an exoneration of Liberation Theology, L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's semi-official newspaper, published an essay stating that with the election of the first pope from Latin America, Liberation Theology can no longer "remain in the shadows to which it has been relegated for some years…” What are we to make of this about face? Let’s pray Pope Francis’ rehabilitation of Liberation Theology does not bring about the democracy undermining consequences in Latin America sought by the KGB. Please let us know if you  this article. We welcome your feedback. Abrazos,  Lily & José  (click on the name to email Lily or Jose) This article was originally published in English in the PanAm Post and in Spanish in El Nuevo Herald.   José Azel, Ph.D. José Azel left Cuba in 1961 as a 13 year-old political exile in what has been dubbed Operation Pedro Pan - the largest unaccompanied child refugee movement in the history of the Western Hemisphere.   He is currently dedicated to the in-depth analyses of Cuba's economic, social and political state, with a keen interest in post-Castro-Cuba strategies as a Senior Scholar at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) at the University of Miami and has published extensively on Cuba related topics. In 2012 and 2015, Dr. Azel testified in the U.S. Congress on U.S.-Cuba Policy, and U.S. National Security.  He is a frequent speaker and commentator on these and related topics on local, national and international media.  He holds undergraduate and masters degrees in business administration and a Ph.D. in International Affairs from the University of Miami. José along with his wife Lily are avid skiers and adventure travelers.  In recent years they have climbed Grand Teton in Wyoming, trekked Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Machu Pichu in Peru.  They have also hiked in Tibet and in the Himalayas to Mt. Everest Base Camp. They cycled St. James Way (El Camino de Santiago de Compostela) and cycled alongside the Danube from Germany to Hungary. They have scuba dived in the Bay Islands off the Honduran coast.  Their adventurers are normally dedicated to raise funds for causes that are dear to them.  Watch Joe & Lily summit Kilimanjaro. Books by Dr. José Azel In Reflections on Freedom, José Azel brings together a collection of his columns published in prestigious newspapers.  Each article reveals his heartfelt and personal awareness of the importance of freedom in our lives.  They are his reflections after nearly sixty years of living and learning as a Cuban outside Cuba. In what has become his stylistic trademark, Professor Azel brilliantly introduces complex topics in brief journalistic articles. Buy Now En Reflexiones sobre la libertad José Azel reúne una colección de sus columnas publicadas en prestigiosos periódicos. Cada artículo revela su percepción sincera y personal de la importancia de la libertad en nuestras vidas. Son sus reflexiones después de casi sesenta años viviendo y aprendiendo como cubano fuera de Cuba.  En lo que ha resultado ser característica distintiva de sus artículos, el Profesor Azel introduce con brillantez complejos temas en  breves artículos de carácter periodístico. Compre Aqui Mañana in Cuba is a comprehensive analysis of contemporary Cuba with an incisive perspective of the Cuban frame of mind and its relevancy for Cuba's future. Buy now   Pedazos y Vacíos is a collection of poems written in by Dr. Azel in his youth. Poems are in Spanish. Buy now

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