The thread of memory: theological and political-religious practices of liberationist Catholicism in Argentina

Abstract

This article analyzes the uses of theologies in the configuration of liberationist Catholicism in Argentina from the post-dictatorship until the second decade of the 21st century, identifying two typical moments. The article begins with the analysis of the Theological Formation Seminars, nucleus of the liberationist Catholic space of the 1990s. Starting from the vindication of the figure of the martyrs and a theological reworking of a horizontal and participatory nature, we will show how this space updates the legacy of the Liberation Theology in the framework of the resistance to neoliberalism. We will present the points of contact and difference between the Liberation Theology, understood as continental intellectual current, and the Theology of the People, a variant nourished by the political-religious effervescences of Argentina. In the second moment, from the papacy of Francis, new political-religious militancies are activated that emphasize the intersection between popular religiosity and political organization of the popular sectors. The memory exercise appears as a common locus that ties different stages of dissident Catholic sectors. In methodological terms, the findings of this manuscript are supported by a four-year research on contemporary political-religious militancies, based on in-depth interviews, observation of events and analysis of secondary sources.