The preferential option for the poor, which is becoming increasingly evident in the Catholic Church in Latin America, has led to the encouragement of grassroots movements for social change, as well as to conflict between the Church and military governments. Although the institutionalization of this new ecclesial position occurred at the Second General Conference of the Latin American Bishops in Medellin, Colombia, in 1968, signs of its development had already appeared several years earlier in Brazil. The present study utilizes a Gramscian approach to investigate the politicaleconomic and religious-institutional conditions in that country that provided the context for the emergence of the option for the poor. Documentation is drawn both from published sources and from this author's field research, which included participant observation in basic ecclesial communities and sixty-four interviews with lay people, sisters, priests, and bishops. In recent years there has been a growing body of theory and research related to the role of the Latin American Catholic Church in promoting social change (see Vallier, 1970; Bruneau, 1974, 1982; De Souza, 1978, 1982; Lima, 1979; Maduro, 1979; Levine, 1981). This role, which represents a departure from the hierarchy's traditional alliance with social elites, is visible in the strong statements on human rights made by conferences of bishops, the development of liberation theology, and the convergence between basic ecclesial communities (CEBs) and popular movements. The term used within the Church to include all these patterns is the preferential option for the poor. This new ecclesial position is leading to questioning of social structures that perpetuate poverty and repression, as well as to the questioning of the traditional structures of religious authority. Among social scientists and religious writers, there are a number of explanations as