Secularism Revisited, 1955–1960

Abstract

The initial atmosphere of conciliation that existed among the varied opponents of Peronism in 1955 was similar to that which prevailed after the defeat of Rosas at Caseros in 1852. Criterio congratulated its old adversaries, La Prensa and Sur, on their restoration. While they were both in prison, Mgr. Franceschi had sent Sur ’ s director, Victoria Ocampo, a Bible. Liberals and Catholics, noted Criterio, despite their traditional differences, shared ‘ an authentic love of liberty and justice ’ .¹ Yet there were other historical parallels between the post-Rosas decades and the years succeeding Perón ’ s fall. Catholics and liberals would again clash over concepts of liberty and democracy, over the role of the state in education, and over definitions of a political community. The pattern was remarkable, and showed that, whatever the gains of the Catholic movement in restoring institutional liberties after Perón, the outlook of Argentina ’ s political classes, whether liberal or nationalist, remained rooted in a secularist and absolutist conception of the state.