This article argues that the ideas of Pope John Paul II appear to mark a long-awaited reconciliation between catholic ethics and capitalism. The two were hopelessly at odds at a time when “modern” as a concept in Latin America was understood as the elimination of all links with the Spanish monarchy. It is certainly true that “the troops of the independence movement marched under the standards of the Virgins of Luján, Guadalupe and Chiquinquirá”. However, a radical lay movement emerged toward the end of the 19th century. The council promoted reconciliation between liberal values and Catholic tradition. Demo-Christians thinking gathered force while radical socialism spurred on by liberation theology rose up to meet it. John Paul II seems to have shown us the light at the end of this particular tunnel.

The political processes of Peru and Italy share similar trails: the currently irrelevant old political groups that held sway for most of the century in Peru and the collapse of Italy's 'partltocracy'. The emerging of a two-party system in Peruvian politics is the consequence of the need to move on from the old system. Moreover, the end of the first Italian Republic includes the abolition of a system founded on the political Catholicism, socialism and communism. Free market rules have been adopted in both processes as a cleaning instrument of the populist corporatism. Some reforms are required in order to free the economy from excessive political intervention as well as to redefine the government's role. In conclusion, this article presents a legitimacy crisis in the establishment. This situation is reflected in the emergence of new groups without traditional ideologies, whose aim is to e...

Las ideas de Juan Pablo ll aparecen, a la luz del presente artículo, como el hito de conciliación final entre la ética católica y el capitalismo. Ambos habrían parecido opuestos cuando la “modernidad“ era entendida, en América Latina, como la eliminación de todo vínculo con la anarquía imperialista española. Ciertamente, “las tropas independentistas marcharan bajo los estandartes de las vírgenes de Luján, Guadalupe y Chiquinquirá“. Sin embargo, un laicismo radical surgió a finales del siglo XIX. El Concilio promovió una reconciliación de los valores liberales con la tradición católica. El pensamiento democristiano se fortaleció y, en oposición a él, surgieron vertientes socialistas radicales animadas por la teología de la liberación. Juan Pablo II ha puesto un previsible fin a la disputa.