The Catholic Church's position on liberation theology is in a state of flux, or so press reports would lead one to believe. According to secular and religious pundits, high-level Vatican officials have not yet decided whether to accept or reject this new derivative of Catholic theology. Pointing to allegedly conflicting Vatican statements, reporters speculate periodically that resistance to the concept is weakening within the Vatican and conditional or full acceptance will occur in a matter of time.
Media speculation has focused especially on a recent Vatican statement reexamining liberation theology. A careful and objective reading of that it fits comfortably into the existing corpus of Catholic social teaching. Any confusion arises not from Vatican indecision but from efforts by others to manipulate the statement for partisan advantage.
In September 1984, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, issued an Instruction on Certain Aspects of the Theology of Liberation that condemned the synthesis of Christianity and Marxism. This document was, in turn, widely condemned as provincial, intellectually shallow, and ignorant of Latin America's unique social and political conditions. Denying any Marxist link, liberation theologians claimed that they were taking part in an indigenous effort, sanctioned by Vatican II, to develop a Christian answer to temporal injustice and oppression.
At the time, Ratzinger promised a second, more positive statement that would give the correct understanding of human liberation. That document, the Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation, appeared in early April and generated a whirlwind of controversy in Catholic circles. Despite its more theoretical air and affirmative tone, the new document is a clear companion to its predecessor.
The 1986 decree constitutes part of a long-term Vatican effort to suppress the deficiencies of liberation theology while preserving and strengthening its merits. Pope John Paul II's promise two years ago to follow the harsh 1984 Instruction with a more conciliatory one reflects this foresight. Having already condemned the errors of liberation theologians, the pope reassured them that liberation theology, properly understood, is indispensable. Through this mot recent Instruction, the Vatican seeks to co-opt liberation theology by appropriating it and then purifying it from within. Instead of issuing further condemnations, which might quickly lose their effectiveness, Ratzinger now embraces the concept of liberation but redefines it, making it more "authentic." In his hands, "liberation" becomes something quite different from what it is to most liberation theologians.
In contrast to liberation theologians, who regard political oppression and material want as the ultimate evils, the Instruction emphasizes a different oppression afflicting man - the oppression of sin, egotism, and death. Freedom from sin is man's most important liberation, and upon it depends earthly freedom, which is also essential but less important. As the Instruction notes, even those whose physical freedom is constrained can hope for eternal happiness, which is the ultimate liberation.
Thus the Instruction reaffirms the church's traditional emphasis on individual moral choice as the source of injustice, oppression, and want. Personal sin, says
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