Once considered revolutionary, Gustavo Gutierrez’s ideas of empathy and advocacy for the poor have become central to Catholic social teaching. Gutierrez, a Peruvian priest and scholar known as the father of Latin American Liberation Theology—a movement born from solidarity with the poor and marginalized—passed away on Tuesday in Lima, Peru.
Born on June 8, 1928, in the Montserrat Barrio of Lima, Gutierrez was of Hispanic and Quechua Indian descent. As a child, he suffered from polio, spending much of his adolescence bedridden. This early experience with disability led him to pursue medicine, graduating from Peru’s National University in 1950. However, he eventually chose the priesthood instead.
Gutierrez studied philosophy, psychology, and theology at universities in Belgium, France, and Italy, earning a master’s degree in Europe. Upon his return to the slums of Lima in the late 1950s, he realized that the dominant theology from the northern hemisphere did not address the realities of Latin America.
“The history of humanity is written with ‘white hands’ from the perspective of the powerful,” Gutierrez observed, echoing the thoughts of his fellow Peruvian, José María Arguedas, and Brazilian priest Henrique Pereira Neto. In his groundbreaking book A Theology of Liberation, Gutierrez wrote: “Those who have lost their history have a different perspective.” He argued that liberation theology, and the stories of “those without history,” must begin with the questions asked by the world’s poor and oppressed.
Gutierrez emphasized that theology must arise from the experiences of the marginalized, not imposed by academic institutions or the Church from the outside. This approach became the hallmark of liberation theology, with Gutierrez’s commitment to the poor and oppressed at its center.
In his 1971 book A Theology of Liberation (first translated into English in 1973), Gutierrez affirmed that the God of the Jewish-Christian tradition is especially committed to the poor. His work anticipated movements in the United States advocating for basic human rights, such as housing and healthcare, and continues to influence teachings in seminaries and universities today.
Gutierrez argued that the salvation of the poor is not only to be realized in the afterlife but also within human history. To truly know God, he insisted, people must work to eradicate poverty and injustice in the here and now. “The Church should focus on life in this world, not just the next,” he wrote. For Gutierrez, poverty was not something to be idealized, but rather recognized as an evil to be fought and eradicated.
“We love God by loving our neighbor,” Gutierrez asserted. “Only then will God be with us.” Like Jesus, who lived among the outcasts, Gutierrez spent most of his life in Lima’s Rimac Barrio, serving as a parish priest and director of the Bartolomé de las Casas Institute, ministering to the poor.
His work gained immediate influence among priests and ordinary people fighting against oppressive economic and political systems. His theology inspired many across Asia and Africa, though it also faced opposition. Critics from capitalist countries accused Gutierrez of using Marxist social analysis to expose unjust political systems, many of which were supported by first-world powers. Feminist scholars also critiqued his work for not explicitly addressing the sexual abuse of poor women in Latin America.
Despite the popularity of liberation theology following the Second Vatican Council, Gutierrez’s ideas were subject to scrutiny from the Vatican for their perceived deviation from Catholic conservatism. Yet, his collaboration with Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who was assassinated in 1980 for speaking out against social injustice, and his contribution to the 1979 Latin American Episcopal Council in Puebla, Mexico, were foundational to the movement.
Ironically, despite his significant contributions, Gutierrez did not receive his doctorate in theology from the Catholic University of Lyon until 1985—more than 15 years after the publication of A Theology of Liberation. Pope Francis, the first Latin American pope, invited Gutierrez to the Vatican in 2013 and expressed support for his theology.
Though Gutierrez has passed away, his legacy as a prophet of the poor endures. His theology, which sides with the marginalized, will continue to challenge and inspire future generations.
