Theology of the People: U.S. Latino and Argentine Perspectives in Dialogue
Faculty Research Grant
Pope Francis has taken many by surprise with his new efforts at Church reform and call for Christians to go to the margins to serve the poor and most vulnerable in society. What is not well known or understood is the Argentine and Latin American background to his thought and plan of action. Many of the themes of his pontificate and even the style of pastoral engagement were already evident in the teología del pueblo (“theology of the people”) that he manifested as Archbishop of Buenos Aires. This project will investigate the Argentine sources of his theology of the people and compare them to developments in US Latino/a theology. In both cases, the Argentine school and the US Latino/a approach, the path to democracy and human development is tied to cultural analysis of the faith and daily life of the people in highly particular setting, usually urban, settings.
