Leonardo Boff is the famous former Franciscan priest who is one of the main names of the ideological movement known as "Liberation Theology." He was the mentor of the closest friend, greatest electoral supporter and most influential Cardinal in the new pontificate, the Brazilian Claudio Hummes, also a Franciscan. His most influential book, "Church: Charism and Power", was the object of a specific 1985 notification of the Congregation for the Doctrine for the Faith, which "was obliged to declare that the options of L. Boff analyzed here endanger the sound doctrine of the faith".Excerpts provided in Spanish by Periodista Digital and published today:
"Pope Francis is more liberal than what is supposed"
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The Brazilian former priest Leonardo Boff, one of the most preeminent representatives of the so-called Liberation Theology, believes that Pope Francis will surprise many by heading a radical move in the church.
"He now is the pope and he can do whatever he wants. Many will be surprised with what Francis will do. In order to do this, a rupture with traditions will be needed, to leave behind the corrupt Vatican curia to give way to a universal church," Boff said in an interview published by German magazine Der Spiegel in its edition for the upcoming week.
...Boff also says that, even though in many aspects - as those referring to contraceptives, celibacy, and homosexuality - Bergoglio followed a conservative line, as a cardinal, that was due solely to pressure from the Vatican, and maintains that there are elements that indicate that the new pope is much more liberal than that.
"A couple of months ago, for instance, he expressly approved that a homosexual couple adopt a child. He is in touch with priests who have been repudiated by the official church because they got married. And, most importantly, he did not let himself be separated from his conviction that we must be on the side of the poor," the former priest says.
