El catolicismo liberal (o liberalismo católico) en Colombia decimonónica

Abstract

This article inquires on a tendency of Catholicism named Liberal Catholicism developed in Colombia along the 19th Century. Liberal Catholicism pretended to conciliate Catholic Faith and ideas from Liberalism. To begin with, the author asks if the term “Liberalism”, of European origin, responds to Colombian 19th Century context. Afterwards, the article tracks the origins of enlightened proposals and ideas coupled with religious faith, their role in the Independence process and in the first decades of independent life. It also refers to the existence of a clergy imbued by liberal ideas who actively participated in the construction of the new Nation-State. Also, it highlights how different internal events (creation of political parties, liberal reforms, civil wars) as well as external events (process of Romanization, papal encyclicals) suffocated these expressions proclaiming the impossibility of conciliation of Catholic faith and the modern world and gave rise to an intransigent tendency of Catholicism that seized the ecclesiastical institution.