Father Gutierrez, whose 1971 book A Theology of Liberation, helped launch the movement, was also criticised by Pope John Paul II and by the Catholic hierarchy in his own country.

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In more recent years, both Gustavo Gutierrez in Peru, one of the founders of liberation theology, and Leonardo Boff, the outspoken Franciscan priest from Brazil have fallen foul of Rome.

BBC: New Pope seeks to heal divisions in Latin America

He also says all the focus on a few unremarkable moments is part of an unfair portrait painted by those unfamiliar with the tone of "liberation theology" ministries.

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While he has frequently criticized the large gap between rich and poor in Latin America, he never followed many of his fellow Jesuits in pursuing Liberation Theology in the 1960s and 1970s, a movement that sought to lift the living standards for the region's poor.

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He has also focused on the welfare of the poor as espoused by the liberation theology popular in Latin America.

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These communities, inspired in part by the Jesuits and Liberation Theology, embodied a self-reliant form of development, divorced from the paternalism of the past.

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Then again, entering fully into liberation theology would have been a bridge too far, outside of the good graces of the Church entirely.

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She moved to North Carolina in 1992 to pursue a Masters of Theological Studies at Duke University, where she studied feminist and liberation theology.

WHITEHOUSE: Melinda Wiggins | The White House