Gustavo Gutierrez, champion of Christian liberation theology, dies | Faith Information

Adeyemi Adeyemi

International Courant

As an advocate for the world’s “poor and exploited,” Gutierrez promoted beliefs that revolutionized the Latin American church.

Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutierrez, thought of the daddy of Latin American liberation theology, has died on the age of 96.

He died on Tuesday night in Lima, the Dominican Order of Peru mentioned, with out rationalization.

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Gutierrez was an eminent Catholic theologian and thinker whose 1971 e-book – entitled A Theology of Liberation – had a profound affect on church doctrine and apply in Latin America.

It holds that Christian salvation goes past religious issues and likewise calls for that individuals be free of materials or political oppression. He famously wrote: “The way forward for historical past belongs to the poor and exploited.”

Archbishop Carlos Castillo, the candidate for cardinal of Lima, remembered Gutierrez, who served as an area parish priest in Lima in his youthful years, as a “devoted theological priest who by no means considered cash or luxurious, or something that appeared to make him superior . ”.

“Small as he was, in his smallness he knew find out how to proclaim the Gospel to us with power and braveness,” Castillo mentioned.

Gutierrez’s considering attracted many who have been outraged by the inequality and dictatorships in a number of Latin American international locations within the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies. He impressed figures resembling Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980 after taking a stand towards rights abuses in his nation’s civil battle.

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Initially, the Vatican sharply denounced liberation theology, claiming it had Marxist undercurrents, and spent a long time disciplining a few of its proponents.

Gutierrez, who himself was by no means disciplined, advised reporters in 2015 that liberation theology as an entire was by no means condemned, however he acknowledged that the Holy See had performed a “very important dialogue” with its proponents and that there have been “tough moments.”

The arrival of the primary Latin American pope, Pope Francis, centered the Vatican’s consideration on social justice and the poor and led to one thing of a rehabilitation of liberation theology.

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When Gutierrez turned 90 in 2018, Pope Francis wrote him a letter thanking him for his contributions to “the Church and humanity, via your theological service and your preferential love for the poor and the outcasts of society.”

Gustavo Gutierrez, champion of Christian liberation theology, dies | Faith Information

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