This October 22 he died Gustavo Gutierrezone of the Peruvians with the greatest presence in universal thought. The priest and theologian became known when, in 1971, he published his book “Liberation Theology.” The text was widely received in Latin America and then globally. It has been translated into multiple languages.
Liberation theology, now converted into a current of thought, emerged on our continent in a context of extensive reflection and rethinking in the Church: the Second Vatican Council, between 1962 and 1965, promoted by Pope John XXIII; and in Latin America, the Episcopal Conference of Medellín in 1968.
In an interview with the author of this column (“Conversations. With eyes of the 20th century”, PUCP, 2014), Gutiérrez reviews moments in his life that attest to his solid and permanent interest in knowledge, along with his priestly vocation. . With parallel studies of Sciences –”[con Javier Mariátegui] We entered San Marcos together to study Medicine, with the desire to be psychiatrists” – and Literature at the Catholic University, then he studied Philosophy in Leuven, Belgium, and graduated in Psychology there in 1955. Later he obtained a doctorate in Theology at the Catholic University of Lyon, France. Already in 1950 he had decided to give himself to the Church.
Gutiérrez He received more than 30 honorary doctorates. He gave courses and conferences at study centers such as Nôtre-Dame, Michigan, Cambridge, Montreal, Harvard, Comillas (Jesuits), Berkeley, Lyon, Sao Paulo and Sophia (Tokyo).
Along with recognizing the height of his training, it is interesting to know what led him to write “Liberation Theology”, which marks the course of its global dimension. In the interview he mentions as the center of his thoughts: “My pastoral work, the vision of poverty and its contrast with what is announced by the Gospel.” […]. It is a reading of the Bible, an attempt to respond to a fact that we have called the emergence of the poor.”
Gustavo Gutierrez He was – and will continue to be –, in addition to being a world-class theologian, a great teacher and a very simple and charismatic person. It is not in vain that Pope Francis bids him farewell, pointing out: “Today I think of Gustavo Gutierreza great man, a man of the Church who knew how to be silent when he had to be silent, knew how to suffer when he had to suffer and knew how to carry forward so much apostolic fruit and so much rich theology. I think of Gustavo. Let us all pray for him together, may he rest in peace.”
*El Comercio opens its pages to the exchange of ideas and reflections. In this plural framework, the Diario does not necessarily agree with the opinions of the columnists who sign them, although it always respects them.
