| 2007 |
2007-05-13/31 |
CELAM V (Aparecida) — Opened by Benedict XVI; Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio chairs the final-document drafting committee — Aparecida is later described by commentators as the matrix of his pontificate.[4] [5] [6] [7] |
| 2013 |
2013-03-13 |
Election of Pope Francis — Jorge Bergoglio becomes the first Latin American pope.[8] |
| 2013 |
2013-09 |
Francis receives Gutiérrez — Francis meets privately with Gustavo Gutiérrez, brought by CDF prefect Gerhard Müller, Gutiérrez's friend and co-author — widely read as a rehabilitation-adjacent gesture, a reading attributed to commentators.[1] |
| 2015 |
2015-02-03 |
Romero recognized as a martyr — Pope Francis authorized a decree recognizing that Romero was killed 'in hatred of the faith' (in odium fidei), declaring him a martyr and clearing the way for beatification without a certified miracle, after years of debate over whether he had died for the faith or for political stances.[9] [10] |
| 2018 |
2018-05-28 |
Francis's letter for Gutiérrez's 90th birthday — In a letter dated 28 May 2018, ahead of Gutiérrez's 90th birthday (8 June), Pope Francis thanks him for his 'theological service' and his 'preferential love for the poor and the discarded of society', encouraging him to continue his prayer and service. Together with their 2013 meeting, the letter is widely cited as evidence of warming relations under Francis; whether it amounts to a rehabilitation of liberation theology is contested (see disambiguation).[11] [12] |
| 2018 |
2018-10-14 |
Romero canonized — Francis canonizes Óscar Romero.[13] |
| 2019 |
2019-02 |
Cardenal's suspension lifted — Francis grants Ernesto Cardenal 'absolution from all canonical censures', ending the 1984 suspension.[14] |
| 2025 |
2025-05-08 |
Election of Leo XIV — After the death of Francis (21 April 2025), Robert Prevost — for decades a bishop and missionary in Peru — is elected; liberation theologians' expressions of hope, and debate about his stance, are attributed to the sources reporting them.[15] |
| 2025 |
2025-10-04 |
Leo XIV's 'Dilexi te' — The first apostolic exhortation of Leo XIV, on love for the poor, begun under Francis — read by some commentators as continuity with liberationist emphases, a reading others dispute; both attributed.[16] [15] |