Vatican City, Sep 17, 2013 / 11:11 am
During a meeting on Monday with priests from the Diocese of Rome, Pope Francis reportedly suggested that he does not support the version of liberation theology represented by Peruvian priest Father Gustavo Gutierrez.
In a post for his Italian-language blog Settimo Cielo, Vatican analyst Sandro Magister said the Holy Father distanced himself from Archbishop Gerhard Muller – the current prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who supports Fr. Gutierrez's views – in a "brief but eloquent" observation made during a question-and-answer session with the priests.
Magister said the meeting was "behind closed doors" and described Pope Francis' comment on liberation theology as "serious and sharp," although it went largely unnoticed by the media, including the Vatican press office.
"In the formulation of one of the five questions posed to the Pope, a priest asking about the centrality of the poor in pastoral ministry made a direct reference to liberation theology and Archbishop Gerhard Muller's stance in support of this theology," Magister recounted.