Church leaders, theologians and grassroots workers in India have mourned the death of the father of the Liberation Theology who forced Christians to recognize the poor as agents and partners and not objects of charity. Dominican Father Gustavo Gutiérrez died October 22 in Lima, capital of Peru, his native city. The “prophet of the poor” was 96.
Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrao, head of India’s Latin Rite Church, mourned Father Gutiérrez’s death as “a tremendous loss, not only to the Church but also to the global community committed to justice, peace, and human dignity.” The South American theologian’s life was “defined by an unwavering dedication to the poor and marginalized. Through his groundbreaking work, A Theology of Liberation, he introduced the Church to a new vision of Christ’s presence in the lives of the oppressed,” said the cardinal, who is also the archbishop of Goa and Daman.
Jesuit social scientist Father Cedric Prakash, who had met Father Gutierre once, too said the “Church and in fact the whole world has lost a person who walked the talk, a courageous prophet who lived the Gospel of Jesus radically and without compromise.” Gutierrez’s theology, he added, was about a God who takes sides with the poor and the oppressed, the excluded and the exploited. Gutierrez used to stress that Christianity should accept Jesus primarily as the redeemer and the liberator of those who are oppressed.