The Catholic general interest press in the face of the dictatorship's debacle. The cases of of Familia Cristiana and Esquiú between 1981 and 1983

Abstract

The months that separated the end of the Malvinas War from the inauguration of Raúl Alfonsín in December 1983 constituted a period of enormous uncertainty for the Church and Catholicism in general. It was also a time of active intervention by the bishops, who assumed a mediating role and worked to bring together military officials and political leaders through the so-called "Reconciliation Service." While this process has been broadly outlined in existing literature, it is necessary to analyze Catholicism beyond its hierarchy, considering it a complex social configuration, marked by power struggles and inhabited by diverse representations of politics and the role of the Church and religion in Argentine society. Based on this premise, our objective is to analyze the contributions of two Catholic general interest magazines, Familia Cristiana and Esquiú, with a particular focus on their perspectives on the political situation, their assessments of the dictatorship experience, and their expectations for the democratic process