SAO PAULO, Brazil — Members of Catholic movements in São Paulo, Brazil's largest city, were delighted when Cláudio Hum mes, the new archbishop of São Paulo, agreed to preside last month at the archdiocese's Jubilee of Lay Movements.

Despite the vibrancy of lay movements in Brazil, it was the first such gathering ever allowed in São Paulo. The reason: Hummes' predecessor, Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, a strong supporter of liberation theology, looked at lay movements with suspicion.

“His Eminence [Cardinal Arns] would always regard us like a burden, almost a menace, because he thought we were competing with Ecclesial Base Communities — known as CEBs — which were much more political and ideological,” said Jordi Leppe, a leader of the Charismatic Renewal in one of São Paulo's suburbs.

Cardinal Arns was not alone in his negative opinion. After the Charismatic Renewal, known locally as the RCC, and other movements started to grow significantly in Brazil almost two decades ago — especially among the middle class in large cities — several bishops and liberation theologians ex-pressed open rejection.

“Movements are the spiritualistic alibi for imperialism,” said Bishop Pedro Casaldáliga, the former ordinary of São Felix. His close adviser, liberation theologian and former Franciscan priest Leonardo Boff, wrote that “[charismatics] are an expression of the kind of uncommitted spirituality that is the enemy of the poor.”

Things have changed dramatically in recent years.

First, CEBs, and the liberation theology upon which they are based, are no longer dominant. A 1994 investigation by the independent polling agency Datafolha reported that 1.8 million adult Brazilian Catholics declared themselves to be members of CEBs, while 4.9 million declared they belonged to a movement, most to the Charismatic Renewal.

About 80% of Brazil's 173 million residents are Catholic.

Liberation theology gained wide influence in Latin America in the 1970s, as theologians promoted solutions, generally derived from Marxism or socialism, for the region's glaring economic, social and political disparities.

Liberation theology holds that traditional Christianity, with its interpretation of Christ's death and resurrection as the means through which individuals attain eternal life through being liberated from sin, is inadequate.

Instead, liberation theologians assert that Jesus was primarily concerned with liberating the poor and oppressed in this life. Similarly, it is argued, liberation from oppressive social structures should be the Church's primary focus, not the salvation of souls.

Liberation Theology's Decline

In 1984, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published “An Instruction on Certain Aspects of ‘Theology of Liberation.’” It condemned giving “an exclusively political interpretation” to the death of Christ, thereby denying “its value for salvation and the whole economy of redemption.”

Since then, the influence of liberation theology has declined steeply. “CEBs do not have the prominent role they had between 1975 and 1985 any more,” said Father Alberto Antoniazzi, a liberation theology supporter. “Definitely, this is the time of the movements.”

Lay movements, and particularly the Charismatic Renewal, have achieved such a wide presence that very few bishops remain willing to get into a collision course with them.

Despite this favorable tide, very few in Brazil expected liberation theologians to propose an unlikely alliance between followers of liberation theology and charismatics.

The first hint of such a proposal came in late July, at an international summit of liberation theologians held in Belo Horizonte, where Belgian-born theologian Joseph Comblin discussed tensions with charismatics. “I think we have to review our too-dogmatic criticism against the RCC,” said Comblin.

But the most striking overture came in late November, when Clodovis Boff, Leonardo's lesser-known brother, published an essay in the Brazilian Theological Magazine.

“In many conferences I am asked what do I think about the RCC,” Boff wrote in the article. “The question obviously is directed to me, identified with Liberation Theology.”

In his article, Boff openly praised lay movements in general, and the RCC in particular. He recalled that the RCC arrived in Brazil in 1976, and noted that “today it has more than 8 million members. Therefore, from a historical perspective, the RCC and lay movements have to be regarded as one of the revival or renewal episodes the Catholic Church has experienced in history.”

His article also noted the pontifical and episcopal support received throughout the Church by the Charismatic Renewal and other lay movements, and he admitted that the Brazilian bishops were very late in recognizing the movements as being “among the fruits of the Holy Spirit.”

In fact, it wasn't until last year that the Brazilian National Conference of Bishops finally decided to create a four-member commission to deal with the RCC.

As well, Clodovis Boff reported that even his brother Leonardo now recognizes that lay movements are a “new, valid expression of the Church.”

And despite the continuing tensions in several Brazilian dioceses between RCC members and CEBs members, “it can be said that, even if the RCC is not socially liberating, there is nothing on it that prevents it from becoming truly liberating,”

Clodovis Boff wrote. “This is precisely the kind of help that Liberationists can provide to them.”

Boff admitted that for “traditional” liberation theologians, this might sound like a “heresy,” but he noted that during last year's Ninth Assembly of CEBs, a group of young militants suggested the creation of a “Charismatic Theology of Liberation” or a “CharismaticLiberationist Renewal.”

The ‘Rocking Liberationist'

“Who knows?” said Boff. “Maybe from the marriage of the Charismatic and the Liberationist lines, we may end up with a new type of militant, that we could call a ‘Rocking liberationist.’”

So far, RCC leaders have shown no interest in Boff's proposal. “We believe that the identity of each movement or Catholic institute depends on what the Holy Spirit and the Church are asking and not the consequence of strategic alliances,” said Antoninho Tatto, founder of the Movement of Lay Apostles, an organization related to the RCC.

“In that sense, we believe that openness and collaboration with other Catholic organizations requires the consolidation of each one's identity and not the confusing blending of them.”

Bishop Fernando Antonio Figueiredo of Santo Amaro, one of the strongest supporters of lay movements, criticized any suggestion of a merger.

“I believe movements are bringing a whole new breath of fresh air into the Catholic Church,” he told the Register. “They are diverse and provide a variety of pastoral alternatives.”

Bishop Figueiredo, whose 7-year-old diocese has received a boost of vocations and pastoral initiatives from several movements, is quite adamant regarding how needless a “marriage” is with liberation theology.

Said the bishop, “It is quite simple: You don't put the new wine in old skins.”

Alejandro Bermúdez is based in Lima, Peru.