Pedro Arrupe - Liberation Theology

Liberation Theology

After the changes following Vatican II (1962–1965), there was tension within the Society as to how the life of a Jesuit was to be lived. Whilst most religious orders in the Catholic Church have a particular focus (e.g. Redemptorists conduct retreats and the Alexians care for the sick) the Society has always used the talents of its members and encouraged them to be expressed, believing that God can be glorified in this manner; thus Jesuits are theologians, artists, writers, counsellors, scientists, missionaries, teachers, musicians amongst a whole host of other professions. This has always made it challenging for them to establish a single focus.

In the late 1960s and into the 1970s some theologians in Latin America became increasingly involved in the political sphere, sometimes adopting positions which others perceived as being Marxist. Many Jesuits in Latin America, aware that the Church had previously appeared to accept, and even support, inequality in the region, were at the forefront of this movement. The thinking that grew out of what they experienced in their work with the poor was called liberation theology and concentrated on seeing Christ as the liberator, not only from sin, but from all forms of oppression.

In its most extreme manifestations, liberation theology seemed to those in the Roman Curia, to subordinate the message of the Gospel to political revolution, making the former simply a means to achieve the latter. Fr. Arrupe himself was even accused of leading the Jesuits astray. The perception that there was a fundamental confusion between hope for equality in the present world and hope for the coming of the Kingdom of God led to the condemnation of liberation theology by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the 1980s in his capacity as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Despite these criticisms, the Jesuits undoubtedly made great sacrifices for their beliefs and immense dedication to the poor and dispossessed. On June 20, 1977 the White Warriors Union death squad threatened to kill all of the 47 Jesuits serving in El Salvador unless they abandoned their work with the poor, and left the country within a month. After consulting with the Jesuit community in El Salvador, Fr. Arrupe replied, "They may end up as martyrs, but my priests are not going to leave because they are with the people." A few months earlier, Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande, a proponent of liberation theology, had been assassinated in El Salvador.

On 16 November 1989, six Jesuits (Ignacio Ellacuría, Armando Lopez, Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, Ignacio Martín-Baró, Segundo Montes and Juan Ramon Moreno, along with their housekeeper (Julia Elba Ramos) and her daughter (Cecilia), were murdered at the Jesuit University of Central America . Others also suffered martyrdom because they empowered the poor and dispossessed to move for change: the chief bishop in El Salvador Archbishop Óscar Romero (though conservative in respect to religion) was gunned down whilst celebrating the Eucharist on 24 March 1980. Lay missionary Jean Donovan, Ursuline sister Dorothy Kazel and Maryknoll sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford were beaten, raped and murdered by non-uniformed members of the Salvadoran National Guard on 2 December 1980. They joined some 75,000 Salvadorans who were killed during this troubled period. All the while, Fr. Arrupe continued to support and pray for those people who were willing to lay down their lives to help the poor initiate change.