(Repost, no reply the first time.)
Péron’s attitude toward the church may seem like it changed abruptly in the early 1950s because Péron initially supported and was supported by the Church. However, as Jill Hedges puts it in her book Argentina: A Modern History, “the decline [of church-state relations] appears to have been accelerated by a number of relatively minor issues rather than by any one major crisis” (155-156). Under the facade of symbiosis, increasing tensions developed starting in about 1950 until the end of his rule. Essentially, Péron’s persecution of the Church was part of a larger power struggle between two competing power brokers in Argentine society.
Péron viewed the Catholic church as a threat to his power, especially as economic turmoil weakened his grasp on certain sectors of society. He opposed inroads into politics by various Catholic political organizations. Acción Católica and Partido Demócrata Cristiano had varying levels of Church involvement, but nonetheless, to Péron, these organizations were rival political organizations that threatened his own power base both in Buenos Aires and the rest of the country. By the early 1950s, Péron no longer felt secure enough in his power to allow what he viewed as resistance to his social agenda. In an environment of increasing censorship, members of the clergy used their pulpits to criticize government actions, and religious processions often turned into political marches that supported the opposition. This led to the high profile expulsion of clergy members in 1954 and even larger marches the following year.
From the Church’s perspective, Péron’s policies that mobilized the lower social classes encroached upon traditions that the Catholic Church used to monopolize. For example, Eva Péron’s charity organization pulled resources away from charitable work done by the Church. Péron also pushed for more control over elements of religious education in schools, which angered members of the Church and elements of the middle class who had no interest in allowing their sons and daughters to be taught rival ideologies. Later, his government pushed for the legalization of divorce and prostitution, which obviously ran against conservative Catholic norms.
The conflict inflamed sectors of Argentine society against Péron’s rule. The church-state rivalry became an important part of the failed June 16th Rebellion that killed hundreds and the coup that eventually ended Péron’s control, though direct Church involvement remains contentious. I suppose whether one finds his persecution defensible or not is up for individual interpretation, but the origins of the abrupt public dispute lay under the surface of the changing power dynamics of early 1950s Argentine society.
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