Latin America and the Catholic Church
Case Study: Latin America and the Catholic ChurchTraditionally, conservatives in Latin America supported and had the support of the CatholicChurch. When the regimes they led brought prosperity only to the wealthy and complaints fromthe poor were met with political oppression, many Catholic priests stood alongside Marxistrevolutionaries in criticizing the existing conservative order. Many of these priests, and evennuns, were assassinated by government-supported death squads. The Catholic Church, whichtook a strong anti-communist stance in Europe, grew alarmed at the seeming alliance betweenpriests and Marxists in Latin America, and dismissed the priests’ claims that they were onlydoing as Christ would do in championing the interests of the poor. The priests hoped to maketheir case personally when Pope John Paul II visited Latin America in 1983. This site offers aneyewitness account by reform-minded Catholics of the pope’s meetings in Nicaragua in thatyear.http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/47/030.htmlComplete your Case Study in a Word document, approximately 300-400 words in length.Questions for exploration: What did some reform-minded Catholics in Nicaragua hope that thepope might do during his visit to that country? What position did the pope eventually make clearto the Nicaraguan priests? Why were some Nicaraguan Catholics disappointed with the pope’sposition on political action? What did they, correctly as it proved, fear might happen after thepope’s visit?
