hand and heart

The recent post office troubles have impacted our regular fundraising efforts. Please consider supporting the Register and Catholic journalism by using one of the methods below:

  • Donate online
  • Donate by e-transfer to accounting@catholicregister.org
  • Donate by telephone: 416-934-3410 ext. 406 or toll-free 1-855-441-4077 ext. 406
Pope Francis lifts 29-year suspension on liberation theology icon

Pope Francis lifts 29-year suspension on liberation theology icon

By  Josephine McKenna, Religion News Service
  • August 5, 2014

VATICAN CITY - Continuing a bid to revive a movement that was sidelined by his predecessors, Pope Francis has reinstated a Central American priest who was suspended by the Vatican in the 1980s for his involvement in the political activities of Nicaragua’s leftist Sandinista movement.

Fr. Miguel D’Escoto Brockman, 81, was suspended from his duties by St. John Paul II and recently wrote to Francis asking for that order to be revoked so he could celebrate Mass again before he died.

D’Escoto and three other dissident priests were suspended in 1985 for defying a Church ban on clergy holding government jobs. The Sandinistas, who supported the “popular church” of liberation theology, overthrew the pro-American regime of Anastasio Somoza in 1979. D’Escoto served as Nicaragua’s foreign minister from 1979 to 1990.

The Vatican announced Aug. 4 that Francis had agreed to the priest’s request to lift the 29-year suspension and asked D’Escoto’s superior in the Maryknoll order to help reintroduce him to priestly ministry.

Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers confirmed in a statement that the Pope had agreed to remove “the canonical censure inflicted upon him,” and approved his reintegration and resumption of his priestly duties.

The move is likely to provoke fresh debate about Francis’ own political stance since he has been criticized by conservative American commentators for having a “Marxist” political perspective on international finance and capitalism.

The sanction was also a reflection of John Paul’s broader crackdown on liberation theology in Latin America.

“During the 1970s, Fr. d’Escoto became engaged in politics in Nicaragua,” the Maryknoll statement said. “He joined the Sandinista National Liberation Front, a political party that overthrew Anastasio Somoza Debayle and established a revolutionary government.

“For his political actions, involvement in the Sandinista government and failing to resign from a political office held in violation of his ministry, Fr. d’Escoto was suspended from his priestly duties by the Vatican.”

D’Escoto was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1961. He helped found Orbis Books, the theological publication division of Maryknoll, and he was an official with the World Council of Churches. From September 2008 through September 2009, he presided over the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly as its president.

Tagged under:

Related items

More in this category: « Jesuits tell their alumni in Congress: Protect border children Gaza on 'brink of collapse' »

Please support The Catholic Register

Unlike many media companies, The Catholic Register has never charged readers for access to the news and information on our website. We want to keep our award-winning journalism as widely available as possible. But we need your help.

For more than 125 years, The Register has been a trusted source of faith-based journalism. By making even a small donation you help ensure our future as an important voice in the Catholic Church. If you support the mission of Catholic journalism, please donate today. Thank you.

DONATE