Abstract
Few national churches can match the Brazilian Catholic Church in creative visions. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Brazilian church led the larger Latin American church toward a progressive orientation. Brazilian bishops and theologians helped to craft the decisive docu ments of the Medellin (1968) and Puebla (1979) Conferences of Latin American bishops. The Brazilian Catholic Church, the largest in the world, promoted what have become key innovations: theology of libera tion, base Christian communities, and preferential option for the poor. Now, approaching the millennium, the Brazilian church has taken a leadership role in Latin America in church-state relations. In April 1996, the Brazilian National Bishops Conference (CNBB) unveiled a four-year plan in which they address political issues, Rumo ao Novo Milenio (Way to the New Millenium).1 Human rights and nation-build ing form a centerpiece of the new plan. Extensive activities support this thrust. The church at many levels has been shaping spaces in contemporary Brazilian politics. This new phase follows twenty-one years of increasingly repressive military rule
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