Podcast Summary: Conspirituality

Episode: Brief: US v. Liberation Theology (Part 1)

Host: Matthew Remski
Date: November 1, 2025

Episode Overview

In this "Brief," Matthew Remski explores the historical and political roots of liberation theology, its fraught relationship with both the Vatican and US foreign policy, and its persistent relevance amidst contemporary political and spiritual movements. The episode sets the stage for understanding how US and church powers have responded to—or actively worked to undermine—the social justice orientation of liberation theology, especially in Latin America. Remski frames the discussion as the first in a two-part series, with a focus on the ideological, theological, and geopolitical battle lines drawn around the idea that spiritual salvation and social liberation are inseparable.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Context: Evangelicalism, Catholicism, and Political Power

• Remski examines why leaders like Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, hostile to traditional Catholic liberation theology, have strategically embraced evangelical Christianity, despite the country's Catholic majority.
• The CIA and US foreign policy favored evangelicalism over liberation theology due to its individualistic theology and alignment with prosperity gospel ideas, as opposed to liberation theology's collective, anti-poverty focus.
• Quote:

  "Evangelicalism generally bypasses the social gospel to focus on individualistic sin and salvation, and often the bootstraps theory of prosperity, as in if you are rich, God has blessed you, whereas liberation theology says the absolute opposite." (04:10)

2. Liberation Theology: Origins and Core Tenets

• Liberation theology was articulated in 1971 by Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez, asserting that spiritual salvation and social liberation are indistinguishable and that Jesus’s life exemplifies this union.

• Central concept: “Preferential option for the poor”—Christian ethics and religion are measured by care for the marginalized.

• Quote (Gutierrez):

  "The poor person does not exist as an inescapable fact of destiny. His or her existence is not politically neutral and it is not ethically innocent...The poverty of the poor is not a call to generous relief action, but a demand that we go and build a different social order." (13:35)

• Liberation theology is notable for using "structural violence" as a term and focusing more on systemic critique than on blaming individuals.

3. Key Figures: Gustavo Gutiérrez and Camilo Torres Restrepo

• Gutiérrez: A Peruvian priest/philosopher, grounded his theology in direct observation and mutual aid, drawing inspiration from Marxist analysis but rooted in religious community.

• Torres Restrepo: Colombian priest who became a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla, considered a martyr after dying in combat; famous for saying,

  "If Jesus were alive today, he would be a guerrero. And the Catholic who is not a revolutionary is living in mortal sin." (23:10)

• Remski highlights the spectrum within liberation theology between activism/violence (Restrepo) and long-game, community-rooted transformation (Gutiérrez).

4. Theological and Institutional Tensions

• The core challenges and criticisms:

  • Liberation theology’s embrace of Marxist analysis and social revolution drew Vatican ire.
  • Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) led doctrinal opposition, arguing that salvation/life change was primarily spiritual, not social.

• Ratzinger’s stance:

  "Liberation is first and foremost liberation from the radical slavery of sin." (32:00)

• Remski’s critique:

  "This is the kind of devious, dishonest, smarmy and diplomatic politicking that I have to imagine has kept many Catholics like me far away from the Church through the decades." (33:20)

• Ratzinger accused liberation theology of totalizing Marxist ideology and potentially endorsing revolutionary violence.

5. Violence, Just War Theory, and Misunderstandings

• Remski notes how both Liberation theologians and their critics conflate historical description of political violence with endorsement—a “corner” that critics and researchers get pushed into.
• Media and Vatican criticisms often ignore the just war doctrines of Augustine and Aquinas, focusing on the specter of altar rails becoming barricades.
• Quote (journalist):

  "Instead of Isaiah’s exhortation to turn swords into plowshares, liberation theology could turn altar rails into barricades." (29:50)

6. The Boomerang Effect

• Remski draws on Aime Cesaire and Mahmood Mamdani to show how colonial mechanisms of control can "boomerang" back onto their originators—here, the US saw its own evangelical export strategies influence its domestic religious politics.
• Notably, US-backed antipoverty movements influenced by liberation theology were ultimately eclipsed (and targeted) by support for conservative evangelicalism, which now represents a rapidly growing segment in the US Latino population.
• 2024 post-election polling:
  • 63-64% of Hispanic Protestant (mostly evangelical) voters voted for Trump, compared to 43-45% of Hispanic Catholic voters. (09:30)

7. Present Trends and Catholic Renewal

• The new Pope Leo XIV (Robert Francis Prevost), shaped by Peruvian liberation theology, recently issued the “Dilexi Te” document, quoting liberation theologians extensively.
• Remski compares Pope Francis’s welcoming “todos, todos, todos” (everyone) approach to Ratzinger’s exclusive tone.

8. US Intelligence and the Campaign Against Liberation Theology

• The CIA produced a 1986 internal paper echoing Vatican suspicions, identifying liberation theology as a significant threat due to its call for political and economic restructuring and critique of US capitalism.
• Quote (CIA):

  "The aspect of liberation theology most threatening to political stability...is the activist orientation of its practitioners, who urged the oppressed to seek a just life now, not in the hereafter, and to use violence to accomplish this goal." (38:40)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Gustavo Gutiérrez:

  "The poor are a byproduct of the system in which we live and for which we are responsible. [...] The poverty of the poor is not a call to generous relief action, but a demand that we go and build a different social order." (13:38)

• Camilo Torres Restrepo:

  "If Jesus were alive today, he would be a guerrero. And the Catholic who is not a revolutionary is living in mortal sin." (23:10)

• Matthew Remski (on institutional suppression):

  "This is the kind of devious, dishonest, smarmy and diplomatic politicking that I have to imagine has kept many Catholics like me far away from the Church through the decades." (33:20)

• CIA Internal Report:

  "Liberation theology can pose a serious threat to US interests when its critique of capitalism and US development policy finds a receptive audience." (39:18)

Key Timestamps

• 02:44 — Introduction, episode framing
• 04:10 — US foreign policy’s preference for evangelical Christianity
• 08:55 — Demographics: Latin American evangelicals & Trump support
• 13:35 — Gutierrez’s key texts and concepts
• 18:40 — Restrepo's biography and guerrilla activism
• 29:20 — Just war theory, violence, and media coverage
• 32:00 — Cardinal Ratzinger’s official Vatican response
• 36:29 — Leftist theologians push back (Segundo, Boff)
• 38:30 — CIA’s 1986 analysis and strategic framing
• 40:06 — Teaser for part two: early US interventions, funding conservative clergy, and expansion of evangelicalism

Conclusion

Matthew Remski elucidates the complex, often combative relationship between liberation theology, Church orthodoxy, and Cold War-era US foreign policy. The episode uncovers the roots of anti-liberation theology sentiment in both Rome and Washington, foreshadowing their long-term sociopolitical impacts, particularly in the Americas. With the stage set for a deeper dive in part two, listeners come away with a nuanced understanding of why liberation theology has been both suppressed and resilient, and why it matters for contemporary debates on faith and justice.