VATICAN CITY (CNS) The divisions and dissent that marked Brazil’s Catholic community in the 1980s because of differences over liberation theology continue to sap some of the Church’s energy, Pope Benedict XVI said. "I beg those who still feel in some way attracted by, involved in or deeply touched by certain deceptive principles of liberation theology" to study again the documents issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the 1980s, the pope told a group of Brazilian bishops Dec. 5.
As prefect of the doctrinal congregation at the time, the future pope issued two documents praising liberation theology’s concern for the poor and for justice, but condemning a tendency to mix Marxist social analysis and concepts such as "class struggle" with religious commitments to end poverty and injustice.
Liberation theology originated in Latin American in the 1960s and 1970s and started with the concrete situation of the poor and their understanding of the Scriptures as they related to the struggle for freedom from sin and from unjust social structures.
Addressing the bishops making their "ad limina" visits to Rome, Pope Benedict told the Brazilian bishops that those who call themselves Catholics must always take guidance from tradition, the Scriptures and the teaching authority of the church together.
The doctrinal congregation documents, particularly the one issued in 1984, "underlined the danger that the uncritical acceptance of theses and methodologies coming from Marxism had on some theologians," the pope said.
The consequence of some theologians adopting Marxist methods, he said, were "rebellion, division, dissent, offense (and) anarchy," which "are still felt, creating great suffering in your diocesan communities and a serious loss of vital energy," the pope told the bishops.
Pope Benedict prayed that "forgiveness offered and accepted in the name of and for love of the Most Blessed Trinity, whom we adore in our hearts, will put an end to the suffering of the beloved church" in Brazil.