Monseñor Miguel Ángel Builes, un político intransigente y escatológico (1925-1950)

Abstract

This article describes the relation between political parties and Catholicism in Colombia by analyzing the pastoral letters written by Monsignor Angel Builes. This relation represents a highlight for the culture and political history of Colombia since it contributed to the creation of a confessional and traditionalist society. Monsignor Builes case is one of the most paradigmatic examples of this relation due to his intransigency eschatology and criticism toward any trace of secularization of society or laicization of the State. Besides, his thought oriented a vast section of the public opinion of his time. His political thought is analyzed based on new historiographical contributions whose objective is to explain the relation between religion and politics. Furthermore, the person of Monsignor Builes was chosen in order to illustrate how this confessional process occurred from one region (Antioquia) and permeated the Colombian society at the end of the Conservative Hegemony, including the posterior conservative and clerical reaction, as opposed to the secularization attempts made during the Liberal Republic (1930-1946).