by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Today, I summarize a few key points from the book I invited the reader to take a test about.
This way, readers can clearly verify the thinking contained in that work.
Let us start by examining what it says about the pre-conciliar Church. Before the Second Vatican Council, the Church was controlled by a clerical oligarchy, while civil society was dominated by a bourgeois oligarchy. Both groups worked together to maintain their power over the oppressed masses more easily. The subservience of theologians to bourgeois interests led them to interpret St. Thomas Aquinas in a biased manner, resulting in support for the “divine right of private property.” These theologians held significant influence over the papal documents on economic issues before the Council. Although these documents were considered definitive until now, it’s clear that they can no longer be taken seriously. Because of this, the Second Vatican Council, free from bourgeois influence, revoked them.
The book is equally clear about the post-conciliar era. The profound changes the Council made in the Church will also have a substantial impact on society, inevitably leading to a social revolution. The importance of this revolution is evident because the Council chose not to condemn communism. The post-conciliar Church no longer opposes communism.
Here is my comment. According to the book, today’s Church is the opposite of what it was yesterday. It used to be bourgeois and anticommunist. Now, it rejects the popes of the bourgeois era, discards the weapons of the anticommunist struggle, and reaches out to communists. In short, anyone who is not a fool must conclude that, according to the book, the post-conciliar Church is at the service of communism.
This is what communist Allende said in an interview with The New York Times about the pre- and post-conciliar Church shortly after his election:
The Catholic Church has changed fundamentally. Before, for centuries, the Catholic Church defended the interests of the powerful. Today, the church, after John XXIII, has become oriented toward making the Gospels of Christ a reality, at least in some places. Medellin, and the language they use now is the same that we have used since we were born into political life 30 years ago. At that time, we were condemned for such language; today, Catholic Bishops use it. I believe that the church will not be a factor against the Popular Unity government. On the contrary, they are going to be a factor in our favor, because we are going to try to make a reality out of Christian thought.[1]
The conclusion is stunning; therefore, before moving forward, I will clarify for the reader what the book is about and who the author is.
The book is titled Théologie de la Révolution. It was published by Editions Universitaires in Paris in 1970. The texts I quoted in my last article can be found on pages 59, 61, 67, and 199-200, respectively.
What about the author? He’s none other than Fr. Joseph Comblin. Yes, the egregious Father Comblin, who wrote a study widely covered by the Brazilian press in 1968. In this study, he called for social revolution, the abolition of the Armed Forces, and the dismantling of the Judiciary, prompting the TFP to launch a petition drive urging Paul VI to take steps to prevent communist infiltration in the Church. As the reader will recall, the petition quickly spread across South America, reaching 1,600,368 signatures in Brazil, 280,000 in Argentina, 120,000 in Chile, and 40,000 in Uruguay. This message, notable for its seriousness, the prominence of many signatories, and the large number of people who signed it, has remained unanswered to this day.
Yet Fr. Comblin remained completely unpunished by any religious or civil authority. He was even permitted to continue as a professor at the Theological Institute of Recife, where he could influence the future priests of Dom Helder.
Two years after that petition, Father Comblin published Théologie de la Révolution—so far as I know, unpublished in Brazil—where he affirms everything we just discussed.
Let’s now take a closer look at Fr. Comblin’s thinking. Not in terms of what it says outright, which is very clear, but in what can be practically inferred from it.
To this end, I want to point out a genuine and baffling mystery. If an antiprogressivist had said everything about the Second Vatican Council that Father Comblin does, they would be bombarded with all kinds of accusations. They would be accused of slandering the pope and the Council, of being schismatic and even heretical. Yet, no one says a word when Father Comblin makes these outrageous statements, at least so far. Maybe, to save face, some progressives—after this article—will whisper a few protests against Fr. Comblin’s book. But that will probably be all.
Why?
However dense and impenetrable this mystery may be, no one can deny that, given the circumstances, Father Comblin has many friends and sympathizers (even if this enigmatic silence about the revolutionary priest’s “exploits” cannot be explained solely by his friends’ actions).
This suggests there is a substantial group of Catholics, or rather “Catholics,” who no longer accept traditional religion and support an “up-to-date” and communist Catholicism. This is the main fact in Brazil’s communist movement today.
What exactly is the scope of this fact?
Like it or not, it is critically important, despite those used to the old positivist and liberal perspectives in which religion and civic life seemed divided by a deep chasm.
If communism continues to spread disguised as Catholicism in a country like ours, which is Catholic, we will soon become just another communist nation on Earth.
And the entire fight against subversion will be futile if it doesn’t include a bold, widespread, and relentless ideological counterattack against communist Catholicism.
I use the term “ideological” intentionally because the main weapon of Catholics has been doctrinal refutation for over twenty centuries and will remain so until the end of time.
Mockery, irony, and frowns are not enough to overcome ideological foes. The most effective remedy for error is the truth—clear, well-supported by reason, and bravely proclaimed to the world.
* * *
This is what the TFP has set out to do with all its strength.
But then, why are there so many frowns toward the TFP?
Why would all this frown turn into a smile if the TFP started saying the opposite of what it says?
Undoubtedly, this is because so many participants are involved in this covert and sneaky movement that seeks to manipulate religion to support communist propaganda, thereby placing religion at the service of irreligion.
[1] “Allende Sees Chile Finding Her Own Way to Socialism,” Joseph Novitski, special to The New York Times, Oct. 4, 1970. https://www.nytimes.com/1970/10/04/archives/allende-sees-chile-finding-her-own-way-to-socialism-allende-sees.html?login=email&auth=login-email (accessed Oct. 9, 2025).