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By ​Margaret E. Crahan 

From the Introduction

The Catholic Church in Latin America over the past three decades has increasingly been identified in the public's mind with revolution. Yet the Nicaraguan bishops have recently levelled some of the same charges against the Sandinista revolution that the Cuban hierarchy used against the Castro revolution in the early 1960s. These include encouraging massification of society at the expense of pluralistic politics, using a nationwide literacy campaign and primary and secondary education to inculcate Marxism/Leninism, unjustly nationalizing private property and employing universal military service to create a standing army that is a partisan force. In addition, the leaders of the Catholic Church in Cuba and Nicaragua have evinced deep concern over what they regarded as the respective revolutions' undercutting of the church's role as the prime moral legitimator in society. It was precisely to strengthen this that in the post World War II period the Catholic Church undertook extensive reforms that were given their principal expression at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and the Latin American bishops' conference in Medellin, Colombia in 1968.

Developments in Nicaragua since 1979 indicate that while the leadership of the Catholic Church is willing to support insurrection in the face of highly repressed regimes, it is no more disposed to support Marxist revolution than it was in Cuba in 1959. However, the clergy and laity within Nicaragua are not as united in favor of such a stance as their counterparts in Cuba were in the face of the Castro revolution. What has happened since 1959 is that the theological, pastoral, and administrative reforms that were undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s have encouraged greater pluralism within the church, particularly with respect to how best to achieve socioeconomic justice and greater observances of human rights. As a consequence, while the Nicaraguan hierarchy has been sharply critical of the Sandinista government, the latter includes four clerics at the ministerial level. In addition, the Sandinista Revolution retains vocal support of a cross section of Catholic clergy and laity. Such diversity has caused increased tension and conflict within the Nicaraguan Catholic Church and has made it the focus of intense political and ideological struggle. Hence, the Catholic Church in Nicaragua is today not as united an institution as the Cuban Church was in the early 1960s. This is in spite of the fact that at the outset of the Sandinista revolution it was institutionally far stronger than the Cuban Church was at the outset of the Castro revolution. This strength was in large measure the result of the reforms promoted by Vatican II and Medellin. These are the same reforms that paradoxically contributed to the political and ideological pluralism that divides the Nicaraguan Church today.

In order to understand better the origins of this paradox, as well as the nature, extent, and limits of the transformations the Catholic Church has undergone over the past thirty years, this paper will analyze the strength of the Catholic Churches in Cuba and Nicaragua, their identification as national institutions, their public image, the origins of ecclesial criticisms of the revolutions, links to the counterrevolution, role of the Vatican, ties to foreign actors, and relations with the revolutionary governments. The conclusions will suggest some possible future directions of the Cuban and Nicaraguan Catholic Churches.

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Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more