A atuação de religiosos da teologia da libertação na região da Diocese de Porto Nacional no final da ditadura civil-militar (1978-1985)

Abstract

In this thesis, we study the influences of Liberation Theology (LT) in the region of the Diocese of Porto Nacional, in the state of Tocantins, Brazil, in the final years of the Civil Military Dictatorship (1978 to 1985). Therefore, we approach the changes that have occurred in the structure of the Catholic Church since the 1960s, with the completion of the Second Vatican Council and with the approach of the so-called progressive wing of this institution with social movements fighting for freedom and rights, in countries that suffered the scourges of dictatorial governments, particularly Brazil. We start from the hypothesis that with the expansion of agribusiness in the region where the diocese is located, which occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, some members of the Catholic Church acted in accordance with the ideals of LT, seeking to prepare poor populations to counteract the exploitations caused by this expansion. To achieve the objectives arising from this hypothesis, we used the methodology of bibliographic and documentary research in the analysis of the construction of the environment in which LT emerged in Latin America. For this, readings about the influence of theologians such as Gustavo Gutierrez, Leonardo Boff, Hugo Assmann and their assertions close to Marxism were important. We also used the method of oral history from the perspective of Paul Thompson to examine the memory of priests and nuns who acted in affinities with this theology in the ancient north of Goiás, Brazil, today Tocantins, Brazil. We observed that, in order to bridge the gap from the theoretical to the practical universe, LT agents such as bishops, priests and religious, made use of various popular and social organisms that already existed in organized society. In the Diocese of Porto Nacional, conjectures with Liberation Theology were verified in the performance of its members in the Pastoral Land Commission and in the Base Ecclesial Communities, together with religious agents were able to act in the mobilization of peasants in the struggle for the right to remain in the land