'Faith in the revolution': political-religious experiences in Argentina in the 1970s

This article inquires about the memories of some Catholics who became members of the Montoneros, one of the most important leftist armed organisations in Argentina in the 1970s. This academic work aims to contribute to the debates on the relations between Catholicism and the political left. The research was carried out from an ethnographic perspective that pays attention to the way in which the actors signify and transmit their lived experiences. My work focused on analysing interviews with several former priests, former seminarians and laypeople who joined Montoneros. It also collected and analysed sources such as bulletins and magazines of Third World Catholic groups and newspapers of the time. The paper analyses the moral reasons and political beliefs that crossed the decisions to 'take up arms'. The radicalisation of these Christians can be understood as resistance against dictatorial violence, the banning of Peronism and social injustice. But it was also a consequence of the sacralisation of poor people, a kind of search for transcendence based on the Christian principle 'to die for the people' and an action encouraged by the power of 'faith in the Revolution'.