Iglesia y políticas conmemorativas

Abstract

The politics of commemoration developed by the Vatican and the different national Catholic hierarchies during the second half of the 19th century is a new and hitherto uncharted field of inquiry. However, this question is of great interest to understand how the Catholic Church dealt with the past. Furthermore, in order to study the politics of commemorations, the analysis of this sort of Catholic celebrations is particularly relevant since they went beyond the politics of commemoration combining national and transnational allegiances. To address this question, this article focuses on the Catholic celebrations of the IV Centenary developed in Latin America. Fostered by Leo XIII in his encyclical Quarto abeunte saeculo as an American, Spanish and Italian commemoration, this celebration became in America a vindication of the Spanish heritage as well as a way to promote a Latin American Catholic identity.

Keywords

• Spain
• Latin America
• Catholic Church
• Commemorations
• Cristopher Columbus