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Nuns murdered and buried in a mass grave. Catechism instructors shot in their own homes. An archbishop murdered in his cathedral while performing mass. For decades, Liberation Theology, a grassroots branch of Catholicism that stood with the poor and oppressed, played a powerful and influential role in Latin American revolutionary movements. Its fundamental tenet, Nicaraguan theologian and journalist María López Vigil says, is that God is not neutral, and is on the side of the poor.

And because of that, its practitioners were targets. To the US, Liberation Theology was more dangerous than communism. To an increasingly conservative Vatican, it was a movement to be suppressed.

Now, decades after the period of revolutionary ferment in Latin America, THE GOSPEL OF REVOLUTION travels through the region, meeting key figures and tracing the history of the Liberation Theology movement. Through powerful archival footage and contemporary interviews, the film shows how these radical Catholics fought injustice alongside peasants, workers, and Indigenous people, refusing to accept poverty and oppression.

El Salvador
We meet Belgian priest Roger Ponseele, who enrolled with the Farabundo Martí Liberation Front in their fight against dictatorship, and sees revolutionary violence against oppression as self-defence. It was a dangerous position to take; 19 priests and dozens of lay Catholic teachers were murdered during El Salvador’s dirty war.

Brazil
The film traces the history of the land occupation movement, and the role of archbishop Hélder Câmara, who openly advocated for revolution. We also meet Leonardo Boff, a key figure twice censured by the Vatican, who sees Liberation Theology as not only a critique of the political class, but also of the church hierarchy.

Nicaragua
The 1979 Sandinista revolution was heavily influenced by Liberation Theology, with four priests, including the popular Ernesto Cardenal, in the new government. But the church hierarchy never supported the revolution, The film showcases footage of the Pope snubbing Cardenal, and an increasingly agitated president Daniel Ortega, listening to John Paul II give a speech that would only heighten divisions within the church and the country.

Mexico
THE GOSPEL OF REVOLUTION takes us to Chiapas, and shows how the Zapatista revolution launched on January 1, 1994 drew inspiration from priests who saw themselves as supporting the movement, but not leading it. Fr. Samuel Ruiz, the father of Liberation Theology in Chiapas, transformed Catholicism into an empowering force for peasants against wealthy landowners.

Liberation Theology stressed structural change and mutual aid, in contrast with today’s more self-focused evangelical movements. At a time when evangelical Christianity is on the rise and associated with conservative politics, THE GOSPEL OF REVOLUTION serves as a powerful reminder that it doesn’t have to be this way.