Finally, with some examples, we will examine the role of the Catholic Church in Peru in arming us ideologically and politically against this new reactionary campaign, both global and in Peru, that has been unleashed with the appointment of Pope Leo XIV as head of the Catholic Church. In this section, we provide some examples of how the reactionary role of the Catholic Church as an ideological shield for the old order of oppression is realized in Peru, on the ideological, political, and organizational levels. To reiterate, the Catholic Church's actions throughout the world and in Peru are part of the general counterrevolutionary offensive led by Yankee imperialism, as the sole hegemonic superpower, in collusion and conflict with the other imperialist powers, global reaction, and revisionism, albeit with its own specific interests: those of the papacy, the Vatican, and its theocratic dreams, sinisterly revived today. When Prevost and those who uphold him speak of his "missionary work" in Peru for more than 27 years, they are highlighting his personal and direct involvement as a member of the international hierarchy of the Catholic Church in what we are denouncing here.
Therefore, in the face of the alleged "failure of socialism," the "defeat of Marxism," and the "futility of the totalitarian dictatorship of the proletariat," which, as we have seen in previous installments, is also preached by the Catholic Church, it is essential to combat this rotten reactionary traffic. Nothing that has happened denies Marxism, nor the necessity and significance of socialism, nor the unstoppable march toward communism: humanity's irreplaceable goal. The issue, we reiterate, is the insufficient understanding of the laws of socialism due to its short development time; the inevitable struggle between restoration and counter-restoration; and the sinister action of revisionism nurtured by imperialism and in collusion with it. The issue, in short, is the continuation of the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
The actions of the Catholic Church from ILA 80 to the present must be judged within these criteria.
In the interview regarding Pope John Paul II's visits to Latin America and Peru in 1982 and subsequent years, Chairman Gonzalo said:
"Generalizing, his visits to the Americas have to do with the importance of Latin America, and his visits to Peru even include how he urged us to lay down our arms while blessing genocidal weapons, as he has done repeatedly on the two occasions he has visited Peru."
Regarding papal visits, pronouncements, and campaigns, we cite:
- Systematic condemnations by the Archbishop of Peru and other leaders of the actions of the People's War, a clear and resounding example of the Church's role: The highest ranking leader of the Catholic Church in Peru cunningly attacked the People's War while simultaneously placing his hopes in imperialism.
- The Archbishop of Peru repeatedly spoke out for participating and mediating in peacemaking and forming a front against the People's War almost from its beginning, as early as May 1991:
The bishops, with a call to action, stated: "Once and for all, it must be made clear who is for life and peace in our country and who, on the contrary, excludes themselves and places themselves on the sidelines of this personal and social commitment. Peru can wait no longer!"
A few days later, the Peruvian Episcopal Conference called for the laying down of arms and again called on "those who have chosen the path of violence... to banish all forms of terrorism, participating in the building of a more just and fraternal Peru..." It invited all political groups to sit at the "peace tables" to seek a comprehensive strategy of response to political violence "seeking the progressive and profound pacification of the country."
In June 1991, the Archbishop again called on "men of violent hearts" to abandon the wrong path because "death, terror, and threats only bring more suffering and unrest to the affected families and hinder the development of the people." But not a single word of condemnation or rebuke was issued regarding the brutal economic shock of August 1990 and the criminal economic measures of Fujimori's starvation government in 1991, which left 13 million Peruvians in poverty; instead, he called for the importance of "reintegration" (the payment of the debt to imperialism), thus acting against what his own Pope denounced against the debt in his Encyclical. It reveals the dark counterrevolutionary core of this savagery of the Catholic Church, incapable of confronting Fujimori's fascist, genocidal, and traitorous government.
On Peasant Day (June 24, 1991), he blames the People's War for causing the peasants' poverty, as if the roots of semi-feudalism, subservience to imperialism, and bureaucratic capitalism had been generated by the People's War; but if he speaks of the peasants being the ones who suffer most from the violence, he should in any case specify that it is the violence of reactionary genocidaires.
During all these years of the People's War's development, before the arrest of Chairman Gonzalo, the turning point, and the entry into the complex and difficult situation in which it finds itself due to the betrayal of the rats of the opportunist, revisionist, and capitulationist right-wing line (ROL), the primate of the Church (the Archbishop) and the ecclesiastical hierarchy have continually called for the formation of a front against the People's War, for example in July 1991: The Archbishop calls for his front. "Unity against the subversives," he said: "it is necessary to rise as a single force to prevent subversion from taking advantage of our weaknesses."
This is his desire to command a pacification front, and the Catholic Church feels it is the only social institution capable of rising above the classes that can "save" humanity. It also wishes to persist in communism, which is why it specifies its role as an ideological shield today: to be an active ideological, political, and organizational part of the general counterrevolutionary offensive.
The Catholic Church has actively promoted this through all available means, for example: Almost at the end of 1991, the Peruvian Episcopal Conference distributed the pamphlet "Peace on Earth." Its nine points, they say, reflect on these times of violence. Of the nine points it contains, five are directed directly against the PCP (CPP) and the People's War. It begins by stating that nothing justifies violence using the pretext of ideas; "terrorists" have no regard for human life and subordinate it to achieving their objectives; that violence is the fruit of a negative mentality; that terrorist groups taking up arms against the Peruvian state violate the minimum humanitarian standards that should be applied in an armed conflict. Evidence? There isn't any, so they don't provide it. They ask, "What does terrorist violence seek?" And they respond by stating that they are obtaining power by imposing terror to achieve subjugation; contempt and hatred toward the poorest. The other points are the violence exercised by certain elements of law enforcement; A form of violence known as "paramilitary" appears to be added to the above; other sources of violence are drug trafficking and various types of crime; he concludes by stating that "national politics and institutions such as the Judiciary, the National Congress, regional and municipal governments, as well as the entire public administration, are at the service of the human person and must have special consideration for them." This is so vague that it is not clear whether it is the policy of the State or the government, and it does not even mention the Executive Branch, much less the fascist, genocidal, and traitorous President Fujimori, who establishes Peruvian policy, according to the Peruvian Constitution. There is an addition, in addition to politics, "the economy must also place the human person and the satisfaction of their basic needs at the center of its concerns."
Chairman Gonzalo, commenting on the above, says: We are therefore right when we call the Catholic Church and its leaders mendacious and hypocritical. But we do not only note their political actions. So the "my episcopate is not of this world" thing is superfluous.
In Mexico, the weekly "Siempre" published in October 1991: "The Church is, above all, the oldest power—indeed, the oldest, most intolerant, and most intricate power humanity has ever known. Therefore, to think that it might meekly accept not being a political force is not only a mistake but naive." Regarding the amendments to the articles of the constitution favorable to the Catholic Church, the authors are not communists.
In short, the Catholic Church worldwide and in Peru is acting within the general counterrevolutionary offensive, ideologically, organically, and politically, playing an increasingly active role.
The Catholic Church in Peru, "apostolic and Roman" by its very definition, participated in the PES, Fujimori's social emergency plan, which was a complete failure and from which it withdrew in sharp contradiction with the government.
The Church develops its own subsistence plans, primarily with donations from the Yankee government and other European imperialists, especially in the countryside and urban slums. Caritas is a prime example. There, they manipulate the hunger needs to buy off the masses with their stomachs and win followers for their anti-scientific ideology based on faith and charity, which is nothing less than class conciliation.
Another very active plan was the so-called pacification plan, such as the Council for Peace. But the most important aspect is the set of its own campaigns, including the "Acts for Peace," which called for uniting all forces in a single dimension.
This was understood to be against people's war. Marches like those of the Young Peoples of Lima, where the Party was active at the time, agitating against the People's War, were in fact unable to gather even 400 people with nuns, priests, parish libraries, catechists, parishes, and other neighborhood organizations, mothers' clubs, soup kitchens, Christian communities, non-governmental organizations, etc. They agitated with false accusations like the slogan "No to hunger and terror!" We asked, who are the causes of hunger? Who are the genocidaires?
These development and peace organizations are part of the mobilization of the population and resources in the so-called Yankee strategy of low-intensity warfare. In reality, the article or post about the election of the new head of the Catholic Church, Prevost (Leo XIV), has been a bit long, but it nonetheless helps us understand the enemy well. Even more so, we know that the communists in the country are struggling to do everything over again, such as the general reorganization of the CPP in Peru to give a new powerful impetus to the People's War in a fight to the death against imperialism, reaction, and revisionism.
The CPP has pointed out that since ILA 80, the Catholic Church has participated in and organized plans, events, and campaigns that are eminently counterrevolutionary political and aimed at annihilating the People's War, which is why they also act as informers, etc. But it must be made clear that these plans and campaigns are planned by the Peruvian Church hierarchy, following orders from the highest Vatican hierarchy. The attitude of some religious leaders, grassroots members who live in the countryside, is very different. Although they are very few, they also feel the need to participate in the revolution, and the United Front policy is being applied to them.