Catholic Church and State in Argentina and Brazil: introductory notes for comparative analysis

Abstract

The article aims at characterizing, in historical terms, the lasting tracesthat have defined the way of life between the catholic field and the political fieldin Argentina and Brazil. Taking into account that the arrival of Catholicism in theregion was guided by the assumptions of patronage regime and the model ofChristianity, I was interested in analyzing the processes that generated divergenttrends in the Catholicism institutional drawing in both countries. The specificseparation between Catholic Church and State in Brazil, in contrast to the closerelationship between the two spheres in Argentina; and the particularities in theprocess of gestation and development in both Episcopal Conferences – linked tothe social reality in the Brazilian case, absorbed in thought in the hierarchy in the Argentinian case – , arise as significant historical moments that help to explainthe different paths assumed by the ecclesiastical institutions in both countries.Beyond the enunciated contrasts, the historical interaction between the CatholicChurch and the State has shown an ambiguous and contradictory character. Onthe intersection between the religiousless origin of the State and the tendenciesof looking to extra-political legitimacies by the political elites, we will locate the axesof connivance and disagreement weft between two irreducible but entwined fields.