Dr. Samuel Gregg of the Acton Institute talks about the upcoming CELAM meeting:
Few realize it, but May 2007 could be a decisive moment for Catholic Latin America. In the midst of a region paralyzed by endless political and economic crises, Latin America’s Catholic bishops will meet in Brazil for the Fifth General Conference of Latin American and Caribbean Bishops (CELAM) to consider the profound challenges confronting the area. The importance attached to this event by the whole Catholic world is evident from the fact that Pope Benedict XVI will be attending.
Top of the list of considerations will be the rise of leftism and their employment of the old vestiges of liberation theology in their rhetoric. Liberation theology, for those unfamiliar with the term, is summarized as “Jesus at the barrel of a gun.”
My need is my justice. That sort of thing. It smacks of proportionalism, Marxism, gnostic ideas of charity, messianism, and all sorts of really distorted ideas about Christianity.
This conference could very well be a turning point for how Latin America Catholics confront the rising sentiment from the secular left. And unlike Europe, the Church is thriving in Latin America. That the CELAM will be attended by Pope Benedict XVI himself is a pretty strong signal the pseudo-Marxists in Latin America have their days numbered.