The article written in 1984 presents the methods used by the top clergy in the Catholic Church to discredit liberation theology. A series of show trials against a theological system and theory is followed across continents during the time of general oppression and that time existing right-wing dictatorships in Latin America. What was the reason for the strict rejection by the church concerning a theology, which was openly standing up for the oppressed? What did the church want to protect so fiercely and ultimately against whom?

Original article: François Houtart: La peur d'une contagion marxist. Une grande offensive de Vatican contre la théologie de la libération. Le Monde diplomatique 1984. See at:  http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/1984/06/HOUTART/38026