Popular Movements, Resource Demobilization, and The Legacy of Vatican Restructuring in The Archdiocese of São Paulo

Factors affecting the post-1950 transformation of the Brazilian Catholic Church from opponent to active promoter of movements seeking social change have long been debated within the literature. As yet, however, few studies have examined the effect of conservatizing pressures which have more recently led to a decline in Church activation on the social justice front. With reference to a key variant of Zald and McCarthy's resource mobilization theory, this paper investigates the nature and consequences of such pressures as they have operated in the specific case of the archdiocese of São Paulo, formerly one of Brazil's most progressive ecclesiastical units. The study examines how one development in particular - the Vatican sponsored dismantling of the local Church undertaken in April of 1989 - led to a fragmentation of São Paulo's resource base, and how this in turn adversely affected the present and potential ability of its leadership to promote popular mobilization as it had once done. The study concludes with an assessment of the implications of this development for the continued political involvement of the Brazilian Church as a whole.