Contributions to the analysis of the confrontation between the church and the Peronist government, 1954-1955

Abstract

This article seeks to contribute to the debates on the relationship between Peronism and the church in the months prior to the 1955 military coup. With this aim we study previously unknown documents. Among them, a secret file from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship that allows us to analyze a political event similar to the Corpus Christi mobilization, on a smaller scale. After this event the Ministry authorities have already evaluated the possibility of taking sanctions against the religious involved. On the other hand, we examine the reports prepared by militants of the Peronist Feminine Party during June and July 1955 on the political activity that took place around the churches, as well as different syntheses of what was debated in meetings within the Basic Units among the affiliates. These sources allow us to reflect, on the one hand, on the degree of organization of these actions, questioning the hypothesis of their spontaneity. On the other hand, they contribute to debate the idea of precipitation on the part of the Peronist government when launching into open confrontation with the curia. Finally, they allow us to glimpsed the different ways in which the confrontation with the church affected the same Peronist bases.