The political Theology of Secularization. Pedro de Basaldúa and the Basque Exile in Argentina

Abstract

Since the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, Argentine Catholics defended different political models, based on various theological principles. The case of Basque nationalism, fervently Catholic and allied with the Republic, created a dilemma for the confessional South American intellectuals. Why the Basques did not adhere to a government that seemed willing to establish the political principles that Catholicism had defended since the nineteenth century? After the triumph of Franco, the conflict continued, as Basque nationalism was a propagandist of the "free world" as opposed to "totalitarianism" in America. This article attempts to account for the transformation of ideas of Catholicism, analyzing the circulation of ideas among Basque exiles, focusing on the figure of Pedro de Basaldúa a prominent ethno-cultural articulator, politician and intellectual in the second half of the XX century between Europe and Latin America.

Keywords

• humanismo cristiano
• nacionalismo vasco
• teología política
• intelectuales católicos