Sexuality, Religion and Politics in Latin America

JUAN MARCO VAGGIONE

Simposio; Regional Dialogues from the Global South; 2010

The article looks closely at the long history of entanglement of religious and political authority in Latin America, which has rendered laicization and secularization partial or incomplete in most countries. It specifically highlights recent and ongoing transformations in the Catholic Church?s engagement with politics, particularly sexual politics, in the region, calling attention to its growing influence in public life. While noting that these transformations are in part the effects of doctrinal changes enacted at the Second Vatican Council, the article argues that they primarily reflect a ?reactive form of politicization? that gained strength under the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, aimed at reversing the advances made by sexual and reproductive rights movements. Furthermore, it problematizes the classical liberal view that secularity requires that religion (like sexuality) remains confined to the private sphere. Despite this long-standing idealized premise, he notes, both sexuality and religiosity have been increasingly politicized, as reflected in the fierce battles underway around abortion, emergency contraception, and same-sex marriages.