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and their exploited classes had to do with being convinced of the radical incompatibility of the demands of the Gospel with an unjust and alienated society (1977: 189).\u000ALiberation Theology was the front line of the left-wing of Catholic Church at that time and would embody this awakening commitment of the church from which groups were formed which assumed a political posture either openly or clandestinely against the status quo and the military governments of those times. In Guatemala some priests, catechists, monks, nuns and national and foreign missionaries, raised their voices against the injustices of the military governments in power. For example, some priests formed the \u2018Confederation of Diocesan Priests of Guatemala (CODESGUA), and beginning in 1969 they issued frequent pronouncements on regional and national conditions and events\u2019 (Dussel 1981: 205).20\u000AFrom the perspective of the laity some catechists and \u2018delegates of the word\u2019 fought alongside the priests in the rural areas in favour of the communities in the crossfire between the army and the guerrillas. Their social commitment in favour of the poor and social justice cost many of them their lives. Some religious orders like the Mariknoll were expelled from the country, many lay people were murdered and their communities were burned by the army. The murder of Monsignor Gerardi in Guatemala after signing the Peace Treaty in 1996 represents a sample of the bloody encounters between the guerrilla and the armies of those times.\u000AOther sectors of Catholic\u2019s hierarchy and leaders showed a more conservative attitude in this conflict. The Jesuit historian Benda\u00F1a affirms that only a minority were committed to the revolutionary ideals, as there exist several tendencies within the Catholic conglomerate such as: popular Catholicism 60 per cent; traditional Catholicism 25 per cent; reformed Catholicism 10 per cent and progressive Catholicism representing 5 per\u000A20 Benda\u00F1a affirms that among the objectives was the promotion of social justice, but in the end they were more concerned with claiming their identity, voice and the rights of the Guatemalan clergy before the Catholic hierarchy. The Confederation finished up several years later (2001: 193-4).\u000A50\u000A