RELIGION, REVOLUTION AND REFORMATION

The result of a conference on ""religion and social change"" in Latin America, the book details the ""deplorable"" conditions there and emphasizes the necessity for the Church to sponsor the cause of ""social pluralism"" and meaningful democracy. In an important sense this is not a true consensus of Catholic opinion, since only Authorities who concur in granting such a necessity have been included. There are ten chapters based on papers read at the conference, and two summarizing some of the discussion arising from them. Problems under consideration range from the most general to those which are peculiar to certain countries, for example Chile and Argentina. Some, such as the population explosion, would seem almost irre-concilable with current dogma, while others buttress the proposition that ""the Church can no longer afford to ignore the lower mass"" of people and their material aspirations.