UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody
Posted on June 22, 2016 by Betty Clermont
n 1990, there were 877 priests in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires.
Typically, priests are selected for auxiliary bishop – the first rung up the hierarchical career ladder – from those who have distinguished themselves working for the (arch)diocese. For example, the new auxiliary bishop in Philadelphia had been coordinator and spiritual director of the archdiocesan seminary, an auditor and had served on three boards for the archdiocese in addition to heading five parishes
At the time he was chosen in 1992 as auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, Fr. Jorge Mario Bergoglio was assigned to the Jesuit Church in the city of Córdoba, 435 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, and had never held a position working for the archdiocese.
Additionally, like all Jesuits, Bergoglio had vowed to “never strive for or ambition any prelacy or dignity outside the Society.” He would become the only Jesuit to head the Buenos Aires archdiocese in its 400 year history and the only Jesuit pope of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Church in Latin America
Since the time of the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadores, prelates of the Church aligned with the mostly European-descent ruling class. However, in the early 1960s, the Latin American Episcopal Council, known by its Spanish acronym CELAM, helped push the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) toward a more progressive stance. At their 1968 conference in Medellin, Columbia, CELAM officially supported the liberation theology more fully developed by Gustavo Gutiérrez in A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation.
The final document produced at Medellin declared: “The Church – the People of God – will lend its support to the downtrodden of every social class so that they might come to know their rights and how to make use of them.” Liberation theology was falsely characterized as “Marxist” because Gutiérrez had written: “Poverty is not inevitable; collectively the poor can organize and facilitate social change.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.