wfn.org | Subversion Claims Branded "Absurd" And "Irresponsible"

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

26-June-1997 
97254 
 
    Subversion Claims Branded "Absurd" And "Irresponsible" 
 
    by Dafne Sabanes Plou 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
BUENOS AIRES--Protestant leaders in Latin America have strongly criticized 
allegations by a leading Vatican official, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that 
the World Council of Churches (WCC) supported subversive movements in Latin 
America in the 1960s and 1970s, thereby harming "the life of the Gospel in 
Latin America." 
 
          The cardinal's allegations were "unjust and irresponsible," 
Bishop Aldo Etchegoyen of the Evangelical Methodist Church in Argentina 
said in a letter this week to the WCC's general secretary, Konrad Raiser. 
In a reference to the fact that during the 1960s and 1970s many Latin 
American countries were ruled by military dictatorships, Bishop Etchegoyen 
spoke of his "gratitude and recognition for the support and pastoral 
solidarity" given by the WCC during this period, "developing a ministry for 
life and human rights during the difficult times when military coups were 
followed by repression in our countries." 
 
          The accusation that "those who defended life in our continent are 
subversive" was not new, Bishop Etchegoyen said. "That a high prelate 
within the Catholic Church repeats it is very worrying -- not only because 
it is unjust, but also because it injures ecumenical relationships." 
 
          The primate of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, Bishop 
Glauco Soares de Lima, described Cardinal Ratzinger's allegations as 
"absurd."  The primate, who is also president of the Council of Christian 
Churches of Brazil  (CONIC), told reporters that the cardinal s comments 
were "very negative, also for the Catholic Church." 
 
          Walter Altmann, a Brazilian Lutheran theologian and president of 
the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), which has as members 
mainstream Protestant churches and some Pentecostal churches, described the 
cardinal's words as "unfortunate."  Stressing that the WCC "only gave 
humanitarian support to social movements," Altmann pointed out that the WCC 
helped to defend human rights in Latin America during this period. 
 
          Altmann pointed to the support given by WCC to Paulo Freire, the 
prominent Brazilian educator who died earlier this year. "Paulo Freire 
benefited from the WCC's support, as he was able to work at the WCC 
headquarters [in Geneva] while living in exile during the military regime 
in Brazil. 
 
          "The WCC has always worked for peace," Altmann added. "For 
example, we worked for peace in El Salvador and Guatemala, to support the 
recent peace negotiations. You cannot talk of peacemakers and mediators as 
if they were financing guerrillas." 

------------
For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  phone 502-569-5504             fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 
  mailed from World Faith News <wfn-news@wfn.org>  

--