Pope John Paul II Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Liberation theology === In 1984 and 1986, through Cardinal Ratzinger (future [[Pope Benedict XVI]]) as [[Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]], John Paul II officially condemned aspects of [[liberation theology]], which had many followers in Latin America.<ref name="Miami" /> Visiting Europe, Salvadoran Archbishop [[Óscar Romero]] unsuccessfully advocated for the Vatican to condemn the right-wing military regime of [[El Salvador]], for violations of human rights during the [[Salvadoran Civil War]] and the support of [[death squads]]. Though Romero expressed his frustration at working with clergy who cooperated with the government, John Paul II encouraged him to maintain episcopal unity as a top priority.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Beatification of Óscar Romero |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-beatification-of-oscar-romero |magazine=The New Yorker |date=19 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=What Óscar Romero's Canonization Says About Pope Francis |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/11/the-martyr-and-the-pope/570835/ |work=The Atlantic |date=November 2018}}</ref> In his travel to [[Managua]], Nicaragua in 1983, John Paul II harshly condemned what he dubbed the "popular Church",<ref name="Miami" /> referencing the [[basic ecclesial community|ecclesial base communities]] supported by the [[Latin American Episcopal Conference|CELAM]], and the Nicaraguan clergy's tendencies to support the leftist [[Sandinista National Liberation Front|Sandinistas]], reminding the clergy of their duties of obedience to the [[Holy See]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Pope says taking sides in Nicaragua is peril to church |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/05/world/pope-says-taking-sides-in-nicaragua-is-peril-to-church.html |work=The New York Times |date=5 March 1983}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Their Will Be Done |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/1983/07/their-will-be-done/ |work=Mother Jones |date=1983}}</ref><ref name="Miami" /> During that visit [[Ernesto Cardenal]], a priest and minister in the Sandinista government, knelt to kiss his hand. John Paul withdrew it, wagged his finger in Cardenal's face, and told him, "You must straighten out your position with the church."<ref name="Religion: Berating Marxism's False Hopes" /> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page