EXPRESS, Sunday, January 31, 2010
Writing Guayaquil - Calderón Juan Carlos Atty.
Interview: 'The Church moves away from the poor '
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Frei Betto. Priest, Assistant to the President of Brazil.
is a simple man, almost without expression say, or at least it shows in the interview. But speaking from the serenity in one of the elegant rooms of the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar during an international meeting on the centennial of the birth of Bishop Proaño, the bishop of the Indians.
"The option for the poor is held in Latin America?
For the Catholic Church there is no other way but to make the same choice as did Jesus. The option for the poor is because the poor are better than the rich. Among the poor and the rich are people of all shades: good and bad, honest and ethical and dishonest and corrupt. The point is that God created us all to live with dignity and happiness. So poverty is a blessing, is an offense to God and is of structural injustice of capitalist society we live. The choice is given for those whose rights were removed, were denied. God opts for the poor because no one has been created to live in poverty. Jesus was a poor man has been identified with the poor, like chapter 25 of Matthew: I was hungry and you gave me eating. Those who encounter Jesus are poor. Unfortunately, in the pontificate of John Paul II there was a decrease in the option for the poor especially on the part of Latin American bishops. How does this regression? Marked
first because the vision in the United States identified the liberation theology with a choice purely ideological, violent change of society. And some bishops and Roman areas fell into this trap. Second, because the Pope was coming from a socialist country that lived under the Soviet Union, then he was a thoroughly anti-communist and had great difficulty understanding the reality of America America. I think it confused a bit. And so it has exported to Latin American movements from Europe and very conservative in nature to reverse that process. The result is that the Catholic Church in Latin America is gradually distancing itself from the poor, and this space is increasingly being occupied by the Protestant churches pentecostal profile. I want to know how the Catholic Church will come out of this situation.
But in the rhetoric of the Catholic hierarchy is still considering this option for the poor. How do you handle this case back?
Well, no bishop after Medellin Puebla, which have been reaffirmed by the Episcopal Conference of Aparecida, can say that is against the preferential option for the poor. One thing is, nothing is done. Indeed, as the Catholic Church in Latin America has its roots in the middle class and the rich, has much difficulty understanding the world of the poor, indigenous, blacks, people living in favelas. That is, with the exception of some bishops, the Church has been elitist in Latin America. Many bishops have come from poor families, but in its formation have been elitist, like to be with the rich, the pleasures that come from money provided to them. So, eventually lose their sensitivity and especially the prophetic courage to stand with the poor in their struggle for emancipation by the defense of their rights. It is much easier to find churches and chapels in the rich neighborhoods in the world of the poor. There are not many priests who are interested in being there with people suffering and fighting hard, every day, for biological survival. "Give a person a slice of power and you know who that person indeed. Power, contrary to what is said, does not change people, make the disclosure. It's like the artist who lacked brush, ink and canvas, or the murderer who finally have a weapon. The power goes to your head when it was distilled Resting in the heart. Like alcohol, drunk and, at times, turns delirious, excited aggression, collapses scruples. Once vested with the function or position, title or perks, the person is believed superior and subordinate does not support that go against his will, their opinions, ideas and whims. " 
So what would be the option which the Church's conservative option gives people? 
option would be for the Church Pastoral Popular, are still in many parts of Latin America. In Brazil are very much alive. Not so much the parishes, because it is a model of pastoral premodern, pre-urban. Now people do not relates to live in the same place geographically. Today, electronic media can be my best friend across the world. We must find a pastoral adapted to the reality we live. And the poor want to find in the Church a force to fight for their rights, their right to life, which is the greatest gift of God, not faith, is not liberation theology, is not the Opus Dei, is not the Vatican. There, where life is not allowed, is excluded, is pressed, the Church has to be.
The few vocations in the Catholic Church responded to this crisis. Why the priesthood is no longer attractive? Because
uses language that does not speak to youth. It is a moralistic language, tax, the language of a valley of tears. The boy wants to find what is in the Gospel: joy, struggle for life, idealism, utopianism. I joined the Church and Christian because I trained had a lot of idealism in my generation. Join a Christian youth movement was a matter of great happiness and meaning in life. Today, many bishops do not allow youth to be leaders of youth movements. Are much more concerned with the sexuality of these young people for their commitment in the fight for justice. The current young will not hear of moralism, imposition, of paternalism. Wants to be master of his fate, self-determination. I would say that in a society, the less utopian, more drug use, the more utopian, less drug use. I am from a generation that at age 20 wanted to change the world. Today, the young man wants to change himself: the hair, tattoos, drugs, piercings. Should be instilled in people the desire to change the world, to change society, with the commitments of the society. Young people, mostly not concerned with ecology or other causes are concerned with three values: wealth, beauty and fame. There is a strong tendency towards individualism and this creates dissatisfaction as to the meaning of life. That is why many seek consolation in drugs. Because neither the Church nor society are opening ways for young people. Schools are not encouraging young people to participate in emancipation and humanitarian causes.
I notice very pessimistic ...
I'm not pessimistic, I have a principle: we must save pessimism for better days. I am very optimistic, but not in the struggle to support these movements. No room for pessimism in this world. Especially now, when Latin America is a democratic spring. With Correa in Ecuador, Lula in Brazil, Chavez in Venezuela, Morales in Bolivia, Uruguay Mujica, Raul Castro in Cuba ... We live in a time privileged, after rejecting the military dictatorships and neoliberal governments messianic as Collor in Brazil, Fujimori in Peru, Menem in Argentina and so on. In this comparison, I say that Latin America is a very promising. The important thing now is to get involved in that process of gradual emancipation.
This spring you call democracy also has its detractors: do not know what it is the socialism of the XXI century, where it goes, there is authoritarian rule, the conditions of people's lives have not improved, it is sometimes the Otherwise, the process is contradictory and ambiguous ...
All political processes are ambiguous. Now, there's an observation: the town is popular for those democratic governments. For the first time in history Latin America can promote structural reforms through peaceful and democratic. And if the elites, and if Washington does not understand that, we shall probably return to dictatorship, to the blood, the armed struggle and all that. Only the arms manufacturers and fools want armed struggle. We want to change the structures become less violent and more democracy.
But it remains questionable authoritarianism, precisely the lack of democracy ...
Those who have large interests threatened by these changes, accuse these governments of authoritarian communists. No. We do not want to create a socialist mode of the Soviet Union, mostly because the story is not found the solution. But there is no doubt that humanity has no future but outside the capitalist system. In other words, we must share the goods of the earth and the fruits of human labor. Socialism is a potential way forward for humanity that will follow this productivist and consumerist paradigm, creating islands of affluence in a sea of \u200b\u200bmisery. On the planet have that 4000 one billion people living below the poverty line. I always like to stress that if socialism collapsed in Eastern Europe, capitalism has failed the world, for most people. Only a small part enjoy its benefits, like me, who are rewarded for the biological lottery, which luckily we were not born in a favela in Rio de Janeiro or Eritrea, and that is an injustice. It is necessary to look for another possible world, that world that Jesus spotted with another category result of his time, which was the Kingdom of God: the kingdom is not of Caesar, injustice, oppression. Where people can live in dignity. And we all have the same rights and opportunities as a family.
Who:
Former Dominican priest. One of the founders of Liberation Theology. Writer journalist, activist of the church of the poor and liberation theology, and human rights. Twice -1985 and 2005 - was awarded the Jabuti, the most important literary award in Brazil. In 1986 he was elected Intellectual of the Year by the Brazilian Union of Writers. Advisory social movements such as Christian Base Communities and the Movement of Landless Rural Workers. Between 2003 and 2004 was special counsel to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Social Mobilization Coordinator of the Zero Hunger Program. He resigned because he felt that an emancipatory program became electioneering.
"Give a person a slice of power and you know who that person indeed. Power, contrary to what is said, does not change people, make the disclosure. It's like the artist who lacked brush, ink and canvas, or the murderer who finally have a weapon. The power goes to your head when it was distilled at rest, in the heart. Like alcohol, drunk and, at times, turns delirious, excited aggression, collapses scruples. Once vested with the function or position, title or perks, the person is believed superior and subordinate does not support that go against his will, their opinions, ideas and whims. "
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