Rite and Reason:The opposition of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI to the liberation theologians is inexplicable, writes Brendan Butler
Fr Tony Flannery's article in this column last week has renewed a controversy that goes back to early Christianity when the early fathers of the Church tried to reconcile the divinity of Jesus with his humanity.
This was not resolved until the ecumenical council of Ephesus of 431 when Mary was declared Theotokos, the mother of God and not just the mother of the man, Jesus.
Yet, in spite of 2,000 years of theological discussion, Christians still have not come to terms with this incarnation of God.
St Augustine's pessimistic view of human life has predominated in the Western church where the body and the material world are seen as suspect. In this view God became incarnate to save humanity from sin and the power of the devil.
By contrast St Francis of Assisi and his followers declared that even if there was no sin or evil in the world God would have become incarnate anyhow. Human life and the material world were, in this view, so wonderful that God was delighted to become human.
The Second Vatican Council tried to resurrect this positive view of human life where God is active and alive in the world and not confined within churches or doctrines.
It taught that the world was to be embraced where the immanence of God's presence could be discerned.
However, Pope Benedict XVI is of the Augustinian tradition and is deeply suspicious of the sinful world. While prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he was implacable in his opposition to liberation theology.
The primary approach of this theology is to view life from the perspective of the poor. It sees Jesus not just as a redeemer in the Augustinian tradition but as a liberator of the marginalised, who make up the majority of people on this planet.
"The poor are a privileged channel of God's grace," wrote the theologian Fr Jon Sobrino SJ, who was silenced by the Vatican.
This theology is backed up by both the Old and New Testaments. "The message from the Old Testament prophets is clear: they preach that worship of God is a fake unless it is accompanied by respect for the rights of people and especially of the poor. The theme of God as the defender of the poor and the liberator of the oppressed runs like a current through the whole Bible."
So said the Irish bishops in their 1977 pastoral, The Work of Justice.
In 1971, the world synod of bishops said "God reveals himself as the liberator of the oppressed and the defender of the poor."
Jesus continued in this vein when he introduced himself at the beginning of his mission with the words of the Prophet Isaiah, "the spirit of the Lord has been given to me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives and to set the downtrodden free."
His most radical presentation of his message is recorded in the gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25, when Jesus spoke of the criteria for final judgment. These were not churchgoing or doctrinal beliefs but action for the hungry, the stranger, the naked, the sick and prisoners.
He practised what he preached and welcomed all the marginalised into his kingdom.
He was a liberator of the women of his time. The most radical event of his life, his resurrection, was first witnessed by a woman, Mary of Magdala.
The opposition of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI to the liberation theologians who were trying to make the message of Jesus meaningful is inexplicable. These theologians have become the new oppressed in the Church.
The Vatican has promoted Opus Dei, Communion and Liberation etc., to be the vanguard of this otherworldly view of Christianity, replacing the influence of the traditional religious orders who had become more grounded in their support of a liberational Christianity.
Fr Tony Flannery is on hallowed ground when he preaches social equality; he is following the example of his crucified leader, obligatory on all Christians.
Brendan Butler is deputy principal at Loreto College, Swords, Co Dublin.