Can Liberation Theology Speak to Catholics Today?

By championing God's “preferential option for the poor,” liberation theology, which emerged as a force in the 1960s and 1970s, has deeply shaped the pontiff's worldview, participants said. Now it can help the church see the poor as Francis sees them: as revealers of Jesus.

“This theology of liberation … the church was threatened by it in many ways, and for quite some time it was under suspicion,” said Thomas Groome, director of The Church in the 21st Century Center at Boston College. “But now it has come to center stage. It's almost like the stone which the builders had first rejected has now become the cornerstone, especially in Pope Francis.”