Credit, EPA
Pope Leo the 14th returned to Latin American soil this Friday (6/11), three years after leaving Chiclayo, Peru, and moving to Rome.
At the time still known as Bishop Robert Prevost, he responded to a call from Pope Francis (1936-2025), who tasked him with heading a dicastery, one of the Vatican's departments.
The pontiff arrived in Uruguay this Friday afternoon (6/11) and, in addition to the country, over the next 11 days, he will visit Argentina and Peru.
Three years outside Latin America may seem like a short time. But upon his return, he will find soil more contaminated than ever by political polarization.
In recent years, a wave of right-wing and far-right politicians have won elections across the continent — including in Peru, which has had President Keiko Fujimori since July, succeeding a left-wing government.
And, in recent days, the scenario has been particularly inflamed by the victory of re-elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), in Brazil, in a campaign marked by religious controversies; and with the diminishing power of Donald Trump's party in this month's US elections, which could have an influence on Latin American politics.
The Catholic Church is historically diverse — and officially does not take partisan positions — but the participation of episcopal conferences in the political debate seems to tip the balance to the left in Latin America.
The region's past reinforces this behavior: Latin American countries were the fertile ground for Liberation Theology, a progressive Catholic aspect committed to social transformation, to germinate and bear fruit.
End of Most read
Last month, the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) published a letter about the importance of the political moment and highlighting values such as "taking care of the environment" and "guaranteeing human rights" as fundamental for the country.
A group of 64 bishops also released a manifesto, without mentioning the names of the candidates directly but making a negative reference to the then postulant Flávio Bolsonaro (PL). The text said that "one of the candidates promises to allow broad access to weapons, as his father did in his government."
Likewise, sectors of the Church in Argentina have positioned themselves against right-wing policies. In March 2024, three months after the ultra-rightist Javier Milei assumed the presidency, the Argentine Episcopal Conference published a warning about how the government's policy of cutting expenses would drastically affect the lives of the poorest.
Diversity in the Church
Watch news from Brazil and the world on the BBC World Service
Download here
End of app promotion
Experts, however, state that, even with positions like this, it is not possible to classify the Catholic Church, nor its national conferences, as aligned to the left or right.
In their view, the problems of contemporary Latin American society — such as social inequalities — ended up leading a significant part of Catholics to seek, in the message of Christianity, ways to fight for more justice, human rights and dignity, especially in favor of the poorest.
"It is difficult to classify the Latin American Catholic hierarchy as a right-wing or left-wing bloc. In Brazil, for example, the CNBB functions as a space for negotiation between different ecclesiastical sensibilities", contextualizes sociologist Tabata Tesser, researcher at the Institute of Religious Studies.
"The Catholic Church is very diverse", says historian Carlos André Silva de Moura, professor at the University of Pernambuco (UPE), where he coordinates the Laboratory for the Study of the History of Religions. "It is very difficult to classify such a complex institution from divergent political spectrums."
For political scientist Paulo Niccoli Ramirez, professor at the São Paulo School of Sociology and Politics Foundation (FESPSP), the Catholic Church is able to have groups with very different ideological views "under the same umbrella" because "it is heterogeneous" but values "the maintenance of unity".
But, for him, when his religious "reject votes for the extreme right", it is a sign that "political values close to authoritarian tendencies" are moving away from what the Church considers right.
"There is a very influential institutional center, which tends to adopt moderate positions. On social issues, this center often approaches issues associated with the progressive field, such as combating poverty, defending human rights, protecting indigenous peoples and criticizing inequalities", analyzes Tesser.
"On moral and behavioral issues, however, he tends to take more conservative positions."
Commenting on Pope Leo's itinerary — Uruguay, Argentina and Peru — the sociologist sees similarities in the performance of conferences in other countries, with "an important tradition of intervention in social issues and dialogue with the State".
Tesser highlights, however, that more incisive positions are a consequence of current tensions.
“Polarization pressures these institutions to take a stance, often highlighting their internal differences,” she says.
"Politically, the countries are on both political spectrums. Argentina, we can classify as a country today linked to an extreme right, with extremely liberal politics, a very strong economic crisis and with problems with international diplomacy", points out Moura.
"Uruguay is governed by a center-left, with a broad popular front. And Peru, where he will meet the recently elected Keiko Fujimori, has an entire political tradition that comes from her father [the former dictator Alberto Fujimori (1938-2024)]", points out the historian.
Between doctrine and poverty
Moura says that Latin American Catholicism "has a tendency not left or right, but progressive, towards the poor, due to its historical, social and political constitution."
"And dictatorships allowed groups to have a more progressive vision", he highlights.
Professor at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, theologian and historian Gerson Leite de Moraes argues that views labeled as "right-wing and left-wing" within religion "should not be thought of from the outset in terms of political issues".
Both spectrums, after all, are born from an understanding of faith. Conservative Catholic sectors tend to value attachment to rites and doctrine more; The so-called progressives, in turn, focus on the agendas of the oppressed, the needy — the so-called "preferential option for the poor".
"Left or right, conservative or progressive... These are categories that we use to simplify reality", says Vaticanist Filipe Domingues, professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University, in Rome, and director at the Lay Center, also in the Italian capital.
"What happens in the Catholic Church is the universality of the message that makes it possible for people with different worldviews, with different ideological and political understandings, to be part of the same religion."
When looking at contemporary Catholicism in Latin America, Domingues believes that the agenda that is usually considered left-wing is the defense of social programs, for example.
"On the other hand, in terms of moral values, family and faith, it is a conservative Catholicism", he comments.
For the Vaticanist, the critical stance of priests and bishops who criticized the then candidate Flávio Bolsonaro and declared their vote for Lula, including on social media, can be understood as an exception.
Although the Church recommends that its clergy do not take a partisan position, religious people have a margin of freedom to express themselves.
"In very extreme situations, where there is a clear threat [to basic rights or democracy itself], they can," says Domingues. "And then a bishop ends up, personally, deciding to take a more direct position, for example."
Against dictatorships
The root of this image that the Latin American Church is more "leftist" dates back to the period when military dictatorships dominated much of the continent.
In the throes of the Second Vatican Council — held between 1962 and 1965, with one of its agendas precisely the importance of pastoral care for the most disadvantaged and social ills —, Catholic religious people who lived in communities of historical poverty, the result of centuries of colonial exploitation, and witnessing violations of human rights perpetrated by totalitarian regimes, turned to the gospel to seek the Christian essence of social justice.
Liberation Theology was born.
"Latin America was the most fertile soil for the emergence and consolidation of Liberation Theology", says theologian and psychoanalyst Lucas Lujan, researcher at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) and author of the book Size of Flower.
"It was born in Latin America and it's a Latin American thing", summarizes Domingues.
Credit, Getty Images
Lujan highlights that this aspect originated "in a context marked by profound social inequality, structural poverty, economic dependence and authoritarian regimes".
"In an important contradiction: on the continent with a Christian majority where millions lived, and still live, subjected to misery and the logic of exclusion", he highlights.
"Liberation Theology emerged from this confrontation between Christian faith and historical reality, in an attempt to understand the social and political implications of the Gospel in the face of so much injustice and inequality", adds Lujan.
"The defense of the poor is at the center of the Gospel", emphasizes Domingues.
According to Tesser, "the association between Latin American Catholicism and the left stems, to a large extent, from the historical visibility of sectors that took critical positions in the face of inequalities and authoritarianism."
"But this does not mean that the Church, as an institution, has been or is predominantly left-wing", explains the sociologist.
“The Catholic Church has always positioned itself in defense of life,” recalls Ramirez. "Many priests and bishops defended those persecuted by dictatorships, who could be arrested and tortured if they reached the hands of the military." The political scientist highlights that the institution also actively participated in the process of redemocratization in Brazil.
"It is important, however, not to idealize this process: there were bishops who supported or legitimized authoritarian regimes, while others resisted. The Church did not have a unique position in the face of dictatorships", ponders Tesser.
Polarization and authoritarian threats
Dictatorships fell, Latin American democracies came. With peculiarities in each country, many social wounds remained open. As a priest, and later bishop, the American Prevost experienced this very closely — most of his priestly career was spent in Peru.
But the main difference between the time he lived on the continent and the current present is the intensity of political polarization.
Hence this scenario of the Church taking a stand. Because he sees the need to position himself.
"We are facing a transformation in the very relationship between religion, political representation and moral authority", says sociologist Tesser. "For a long time, the Catholic Church occupied a privileged position in the organization of Latin American religious life. Today, it faces a scenario of religious pluralization, evangelical growth, a decrease in Catholic identification in several countries and the transformation of forms of religious belonging."
"At the same time, religion has acquired a new centrality in certain political disputes, especially through social networks and movements that articulate moral conservatism, nationalism and Christian identity", she continues.
Leo 14's visit to Latin America brings precisely this effervescent broth.
"The continent continues to be a fundamental reference for global Catholicism, but it is also a space of profound religious, social and political transformations", says Tesser.
"The pope's visit to Latin America, in this context, can signal to religious people how the Catholic Church is seeing the current situation", comments Moraes. "We need to see the messages he will send to the continent as a whole and how this can be reflected in future elections in countries currently governed by the right."
One thing is clear: he does not approve of the ultra-right's methods of governing.
"The Church does not support extremism and the Pope himself has already stated that the extreme right is incompatible with Catholic values", points out Ramirez. He spoke about this at a press conference held aboard the papal plane when he returned from his trip to France on September 28.
"Religious themes and political themes talk all the time. Political theology is something that is actually present", assesses Moraes.
"The papal visits are not by chance. They represent a project and Latin America is a very important space for the Catholic Church", reinforces Moura.
Discover more
Watch
End of Watch
