Abstract The objective that we pursue in this article is to analyze the positions assumed by different catholic actors around the debate on divorce in Argentina in the 1980s. The analysis focuses on the Catholic press, specifically in the Esquiú, Cabildo and Criterio magazines, and in the Christian Democratic Party. It is considered that he lack of registration of the different views that coexisted in Catholicism is due to the scarcity of research on the subject, but, fundamentally, to factors and representations of the context in which divorce was debated. Influence, in this sense, discourses that raised the issue of divorce as an irreducible dispute between secularists and catholics feedingan extended commonsense and thezeal placed by the ecclesiastical hierarchyto block the emergence of alternative voices that questioned the antidivorcist campaign displayed by the bishops.

Resumen El objetivo que perseguimos en este trabajo es analizar las posiciones que asumieron diferentes actores católicos frente al debate sobre el divorcio vincular en la Argentina de la década de 1980. El análisis hace foco en la prensa católica, específicamente en las revistas Esquiú, Cabildo y Criterio, y en el Partido Demócrata Cristiano. Se considera que la falta de registro de las diferentes miradas que convivieron en el catolicismo se debe a la escasez de investigaciones sobre el tema, pero, fundamentalmente, a factores y representaciones propios del contexto en el que se debatió el divorcio. Influyen, en este sentido, discursos que plantearon la cuestión del divorcio como una disputa irreductible entre laicistas y católicos, alimentando un sentido común extendido y el celo puesto por la jerarquía eclesiástica para obturar la emergencia de voces alternativas que cuestionaron la campaña antidivorcista desplegada por los obispos.

In this paper we address the positions taken by two Catholic magazines, Criterio and Esquiú, referring to the review of past and the prosecution of human rights violations between 1981 and 1985. In their interventions is possible to trace political perspectives, interpretations of specific events and different conceptions of the link between religion and politics in the post-dictatorship scenario. In this sense, and bearing in mind that these were Catholic magazines we wonder up to what extent their interventions were permeated by a widespread reconciliatory speech that invoked the hierarchy of the Church and bishops, politicians and military leaders used to claim political decision to close the review of past. We understand that Catholic publications, apart from responding to business logics and cultivating certain links with the readers, are immersed in a power configuration that includes the Catholic hierarchy, and this “hermeneutic pole” should be considered when analyzing their positions.

En este trabajo se abordan las posiciones que asumieron dos revistas católicas, Criterio y Esquiú, en referencia a la revisión del pasado y el procesamiento judicial de las violaciones a los derechos humanos entre 1981 y 1985. En sus intervenciones es posible rastrear perspectivas políticas, interpretaciones de hechos puntuales y distintas concepciones sobre el vínculo entre lo religioso y lo político en el escenario posdictatorial. En este sentido, siendo revistas católicas, nos preguntamos en qué medida el extendido discurso reconciliador que invocó la jerarquía de la Iglesia y qué obispos, dirigentes políticos y militares utilizaron para reclamar decisiones políticas que cerraran la revisión del pasado, permeó en sus intervenciones. Entendemos que las publicaciones católicas, además de responder a una lógica empresarial y de cultivar determinados vínculos con los lectores, se encuentran en una configuración de poder que incluye a la jerarquía católica y este “polo hermenéutico” debe ser considerado a la hora de analizar sus posicionamientos.

O objetivo deste artigo é analisar as intervenções da Conferência Episcopal Argentina nos conflitos protagonizados pelos sindicatos e pelo governo nacional entre o final da ditadura (1976-1983) e a crise hiperinflacionária de 1989. Defende-se que o Episcopado procurou consolidar uma posição de proeminência na configuração política sendo intermediário entre os atores em disputa. Contudo, a legitimação da CEA nesse papel foi posta em risco pelas aproximações com certos atores - o que negava sua declarada prescindência política - e por ter assumido uma atitude de oposição ao governo em momentos em que se presumia que suas decisões estavam dirigidas a reduzir a presença social e política da Igreja.

The aim of this paper is to analyze interventions by the Argentinean Episcopal Conference (CEA) in disputes between Unions and the national government between the end of the dictatorship (1976-1983) and the 1989 hyperinflationary crisis. It is argued that the bishops sought to consolidate a position of preeminence in the political configuration by mediating between conflicting actors. However, the legitimacy of the CEA in that role was endangered by its closeness to some of the actors - which denied its declared political detachment - and by its oppositional attitude towards the government at a time when it was assumed that its decisions were aimed at reducing the Church's social and political presence.