Ratzinger faced one important, possibly insurmountable obstacle in his campaign against liberation theology: the pope he served. During the cardinal’s first year in Rome, John Paul kept waffling on the subject, offering comments one day in support of the movement, only to back away the next. In March 1983, however, Ratzinger had reason to hope that the pope’s indecision was finally over. John Paul had just returned from a grueling seven-nation tour of Central America, which included a stop in El Salvador, where he made amends for his initial, callous response to Archbishop Romero’s murder. He prayed over Romero’s tomb and offered seemingly heartfelt praise for “a pastor who always tended to his flock.” His public events drew a joyous outpouring from hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans. That was in stark contrast to the hostile reception he had received two days earlier in neighboring Nicaragua. The leaders of that country’s newly installed socialist government, former leftist guerrillas who called themselves Sandinistas, came to power in 1979 after overthrowing the corrupt dictator Anastasio Somoza, whose family had ruled over Nicaragua for four decades. Somoza’s ouster had been widely celebrated by the public, and the senior ranks of the Sandinista government included four priests who were champions of liberation theology. One of them, Father Ernesto Cardenal, the culture minister, was a proud, self-declared Communist. “Christ led me to Marx,” he said. The decision by priests to accept government appointments infuriated Nicaragua’s conservative church hierarchy. It also alarmed the United States, which protested to the Vatican that Nicaragua was an example of liberation theology run amok. The Reagan administration was then arming right-wing anti-Sandinista insurgents known as contras.
There was a sour expression on the pope’s face throughout his twelve-hour stay in Nicaragua. He did not hide his agitation during a welcoming ceremony in which Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega announced that “Christian patriots” were central to “the popular Sandinista revolution.” At a Mass for hundreds of thousands in the capital city of Managua, the pope was heckled by Sandinista supporters chanting “Power to the people!” and “Liberation!” Infuriated, he yelled back, “Silence!” At a reception line with cabinet ministers, Cardenal dropped to one knee to kiss the pope’s ring. John Paul pulled his hand back and wagged his finger at the priest, telling him to “straighten out your position with the church,” a public scolding caught on camera.
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