Pope criticizes Latin America's leftward swing (Extra)

May 13, 2007, 21:35 GMT

Aparecida, Brazil - Pope Benedict XVI expressed concern Sunday about the resurgence of leftwing politics across Latin America and urged the region's governments to promote equality and globalization 'led by ethics.'

To close his five-day pastoral visit to Brazil - his first trip to the Americas as pontiff - Benedict opened the fifth General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean, also attended by bishops from North America, Spain and Portugal.

The crucial bishops' gathering - continuing through May 31 in the Brazilian pilgrimage destination Aparecida do Norte in Sao Paulo state - aims to devise strategies to halt the exodus of Roman Catholics to Pentecostal churches.

'There are grounds for concern in the face of authoritarian forms of government and regimes wedded to certain ideologies that we thought had been superseded, and which do not correspond to the Christian vision of man and society as taught by the social doctrine of the church,' the pope said in his opening speech.

This was a clear reference to the advance of leaders like presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia and others, who have in many cases clashed with the local Catholic hierarchies.

However, Benedict praised the region's 'notable progress toward democracy' and urged more conservative governments to pay attention to the needs of 'the ever-increasing sectors of society that find themselves oppressed by immense poverty or even despoiled of their own natural resources.'

The pope issued a clear warning against liberation theology, which is closely tied to radical leftwing politics and promotes a greater presence of the church among the poor. The movement, which strongly encourages political activism, is popular in Latin America but out of favour in the Vatican.

'If the church were to start transforming herself into a directly political subject, she would do less, not more, for the poor and for justice, because she would lose her independence and her moral authority,' Benedict said.

At the beginning of what he has termed a 'missionary' bishops' conference, the pontiff urged Latin American bishops to use modern communications tools.

'We must have recourse also to the communications media: press, radio and television, websites, forums and many other methods for effectively communicating the message of Christ to a large number of people,' the pope said.

Benedict blamed the weakening of the Church in the region on 'secularism, hedonism, indifference and proselytising by numerous sects, animist religions and new pseudo-religious phenomena,' and urged the Catholic hierarchy to come up with 'new paths and creative pastoral plans' to counter these challenges.