Liberation Theology and Relativism

“From this the theology of liberation deduced that the situation, which must not continue, could only be overcome through a radical change in the structures of this world which are structures of sin and evil. If sin exerts its power over the structures and impoverishment is programmed beforehand by them, then its overthrow cannot come about through individual conversions, but through the struggle against the structures of injustice. It was said, however, that this struggle ought to be political because the structures are consolidated and preserved through politics. Redemption thus became a political process for which the Marxist philosophy provided the essential guidelines. It was transformed into a task which people themselves could and even had to take into their own hands, and at the same time it became a totally practical hope: Faith, in theory, became praxis, concrete redeeming action, in the process of liberation…
…The fact is that when politics want to bring redemption, they promise too much. When they presume to do God’s work, they do not become divine but diabolical…
…The non-fulfillment of this hope brought a great disillusionment with it which is still far from being assimilated. Therefore, it seems probable to me that new forms of the Marxist conception of the world will appear in the future.”
(RELATIVISM: THE CENTRAL PROBLEM FOR FAITH TODAY – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Guadalajara, Mexico, in May 1996 )