Fidei donum European priests in Latin America

This article first examine the sending structures that organised and managed the departure of frenc and belgian diocesan priests to Latin America between the 1950s and the 1990s: were these organisations inspired by Third-Worldism? Did their functioning and orientation evolve with the emergence of Latin America as a possible laboratory for left-wing ideology – both Christian and secular – from the 1960s onwards? After establishing a chronology of the establishment of such institutions, the article focus on the French and Belgian organisations, as they are the only ones for which research – either completed or in progress – is currently available. It will then be necessary to interrogate those who travelled to South America, either via archives (in the case of the Comité épiscopal France-Amérique latine / France-Latin America Episcopal Committee – CEFAL) or through oral histories (for the Collège pour l’Amérique latine / College for Latin-America – COPAL). Thus, it will be possible to understand, with the help of a few criteria, if their engagement on the other side of the Atlantic can, in consideration of the context, be regarded as progressive

Christianity · Chronology · Ideology · Latin Americans · Catholicism and Religious Studies · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics