The geopolitics of the Catholic Church in Latin America

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study analyses the geopolitical dimension of the Catholic Church’s activity in Latin America. This involves ideas related to political control, administration and power over territory. It is also related to the pastoral activity of the Church. As shown, the geopolitics of the Church is related to its internal organization as well as in its relations with states and society. The creation and adaptation of geopolitical visions are made through internal processes in connection with political and cultural forces around the Church. This is identified as the religeopolitical scope of the Catholic Church, analysed in this study from a long-term perspective. During colonial times, the geopolitical vision was linked to consolidating global imperial structures. After the shock of the independence period, there was a reconnection to the new states and a reconstruction of geopolitical visions that in time was transformed into a Latin American ‘continental’ vision. Along this line, the study explores the contemporary confluence between the Catholic Church and geopolitics through ideas and conceptual frameworks such as the Patria Grande. Issues such as regional integration, popular theology and Catholic social commitment are presented as core elements of the Church’s geopolitics in Latin America.