The Poor as a Locus Theologicus. Latin American Theological Significance "The Preferential Option for the Poor"
Łukasz Samiec
Abstract
The old tradition of Judeo-Christianity on the value of poverty returns repeatedly over the centuries. Again, during the first session of the Second Vatican Council fathers were trying to tackle this challenge. In Latin America the reception of the Council, in particular the issue of ”Church of the poor” found its place fairly quickly. The Bishops giving the ecclesiological significance to this issue at the Second General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America in Medellin (1968) followed by the third conference in Puebla (1979) announced the need for a ”preferential option for the poor”. The language and the treatment of the poor has a new approach. In Latin American theological thought on poverty is not trampled as a sociological, accidental phenomenon but as a locus theologicus which defines the source and methodology of reflection on God, man and the world.
