Historically, the Catholic Church has both aided authoritarian regimes and contributed to their demise. The Fascist-Vatican alliance in Mussolini’s Italy and backing for the Falangists of Spain and the Salazar regime in Portugal were examples of authoritarian enabling. Some members of the Catholic hierarchy were complicit in the Argentine military junta’s “Dirty War” and in the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. On the other hand, the church played a critical role in supporting pro-democracy movements in struggles against dictatorship in Poland, the Philippines and El Salvador.   

In examining the role of the church in challenging democratic backsliding ushered in by “elected autocrats,” national Catholic churches have a mixed record, particularly when it comes to electoral manipulation. In studying the stances taken by 59 national Catholic churches toward electoral manipulation from the 1990s through 2023 (following the “third wave” of democratization that began in 1974 with Portugal), the political scientist Dina Lotfy found that 32 percent of the Catholic churches resisted electoral manipulation, while 34 percent called for peace and 34 percent took no stance. Explaining these varied responses, Lotfy found that unfavorable state policies toward the church and a history of pro-democratizing roles tended to encourage national churches’ resistance to electoral manipulation. 

Other scholars have found that Catholic churches’ beliefs about legitimate authority and justice were key in driving opposition to authoritarianism, while those lacking such views stayed on the sidelines.  

Catholic resistance to electoral manipulation 

The Catholic Church’s opposition to election manipulation has involved a wide range of activities, including truth-telling through sermons and pastoral letters; building bridges across communities; violence mitigation efforts; and participating in peaceful protests, strikes and other forms of noncooperation to uphold democratic principles and the rule of law. 

Poland: Pope John Paul II’s 1979 visit to Poland, his homeland, was a watershed moment in that country’s struggle against communist dictatorship. Over nine days, the Polish pontiff offered powerful sermons on human dignity and freedom, attracting millions of faithful and proving to be instrumental in the peaceful, democratic dismantling of the Iron Curtain. He warned against the “arrogance of power” and the “will of the strongest” overriding the human rights of the vulnerable and marginalized, and urged voters and politicians to center the needs of the weakest and most marginalized members of society. Although the pontiff expressed support for the free market, he warned against consumerism and market forces detached from ethical considerations. The church at all levels, from the pontiff to parish priests, nuns and laity, formed the moral and organizational backbone of Solidarnosc, a worker-led movement that inspired hope and collective action in a highly repressive environment, paving the way for Poland’s democratic transition in 1989.  

Zambia: Ahead of Zambia’s 2001 elections, President Frederick Chiluba (1991-2002) attempted to illegally amend the constitution to allow himself a third term in office. In response, the Catholic Church became an anchor of principled opposition. Coalition formation was key to its strategy: the Conference of Catholic Bishops formed an historic ecumenical alliance with the main Protestant and evangelical Protestant church bodies, along with law associations and civil society organizations. Meanwhile, Catholic parishes educated citizens across the country about constitutional integrity, distributed literature and supported mass mobilization efforts. Priests used the pulpit to explicitly tell congregants that Chiluba’s third term was an assault on Zambian democracy. Finally, the bishops’ conference issued a pastoral letter demanding credible and transparent elections, writing that “Our duty is to form consciences, promote the common good, and speak truth to power…. [A]ll political parties [must] commit—publicly and unequivocally—to respect the outcome of free, fair, and credible elections.” These and other actions contributed decisively to Chiluba leaving office after his second term expired.  

Guatemala: During Guatemala’s two-round 2023 presidential election, the incumbent government engaged in extensive manipulation in its attempt to overturn Bernardo Arévalo’s victory. For example, after the first round, Arévalo’s Movimiento Semilla party was suspended and its offices were raided. In response, the bishops’ conference issued statements—in tandem with Protestant and ecumenical organizations—demanding that the election results be respected. Ahead of the second round, Guatemalan Cardinal Álvaro Ramazzini invited international faith-based delegations to monitor the polls. Catholic leaders increasingly framed the issue as one of defending the rule of law and common good rather than supporting a particular candidate or party. As mass mobilization led by Indigenous groups increased, the church publicly called for nonviolent civic engagement, with clergy in several dioceses accompanying peaceful protesters and calling on the state not to repress protesters. The church’s bridging role helped reinforce a broad consensus calling for a peaceful transition of power. 

Brazil: Brazilian Catholic leaders, as part of an interfaith alliance that included both mainline and evangelical Protestant groups, responded forcefully to Jair Bolsonaro’s election denialism and attempted coup in 2023. Bishops across the country—such as Archbishop Roque Paloschi of Porto Velho—urged voters and protestors to accept the election results, avoid revenge and remember the pursuit of peace, helping to defuse volatile, post-election protests. When Mr. Bolsonaro lost the election and his supporters stormed government buildings in the capital, the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops denounced the “criminal attacks on the democratic rule of law” and called for “their organizers and participants [to be] held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.” After the election, it also publicly congratulated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his victory and called for reconciliation in the country. 

South Korea: In South Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law in late 2024 was met with widespread condemnation from Catholic leaders and institutions. Nearly 3,500 Catholics—including bishops, priests, nuns and laity—gathered in protest. The Korean bishops’ conference demanded that President Yoon apologize, explain his actions and be held accountable. Two weeks earlier, nearly 1,500 Catholic priests had issued a statement accusing Yoon of neglecting his constitutional responsibilities and polarizing Korean society, calling for his resignation. Similar to Brazil, Catholic actors played an important role in countering the wave of pro-Yoon mobilization by far-right evangelical groups. 

El Salvador: In El Salvador, the strongman president Nayib Bukele was elected to a (hitherto unconstitutional) second term in 2024. One priest characterized Mr. Bukele’s victory as occurring in “the most unequal presidential elections in El Salvador [after the 1992 Peace Accords]” and lamented the government’s “dominant propaganda” that helped secure the result. The election took place amid Mr. Bukele’s broader efforts to expand executive power, which Salvadoran Catholic leaders have broadly denounced as arbitrary, unconstitutional and anti-democratic. The El Salvador case is instructive as Mr. Bukele’s power derives less from outright election rigging and more from the gradual development of a so-called competitive authoritarian regime, where democratic institutions coexist with systematic manipulation by the incumbent.

Venezuela: During Venezuela’s disputed 2024 election, Catholic leaders publicly demanded the results be independently verified. They supported, and in some cases participated in, mass protests calling for a recount. A statement from the Venezuelan bishops’ conference declared its readiness to “accompany” Venezuelans in these “times of concern…and reaffirm our positions with the peaceful attitudes of respect and tolerance.” Meanwhile, the Jesuit Gumilla Centre demanded that “the entire nation have access to 100% of the electoral records.” These actions reflected the church’s role as one of a handful of major civil society groups willing to challenge the Maduro government’s authoritarianism.

Philippines: Most recently, Filipino Catholic leaders took a range of actions seeking to improve the democratic quality and integrity of the country’s 2025 midterm elections. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines condemned vote-buying both before and after the election, as well as election-related violence. In a particularly stark assessment, Archbishop Socrates Villegas said of the elections that “Money tainted it. Blood stained it. It was blotted by lies. It was colored with vulgarity.” These responses echoed the church’s historic role as a pro-democracy actor in the Philippines, from resisting Ferdinand Marcos’s dictatorship to criticizing the administration of his son, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (known by his childhood name, Bongbong).

The United States: A number of Catholic clergy saw President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election as an existential challenge to American democracy. This included prominent archbishops and cardinals such as José H. Gomez of Los Angeles and Blase Cupich of Chicago, both of whom had strongly opposed President Joe Biden’s social policy agenda. Archbishop Gomez emphasized that “peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of this great nation” and that “we must recommit ourselves to the values and principles of our democracy.” Similarly, Cardinal Cupich condemned “the deliberate erosion of the norms of our system of government [and] violence in the service of a falsehood,” urging elected officials to “recognize threats to democracy, no matter their source.” Perhaps most forcefully, Cardinal Robert McElroy, then the bishop of San Diego, argued that “this moment [is] the logical trajectory of the last four years of President Trump’s leadership” and regretted that “we have stood by without giving greater witness to the terrible danger that leadership rooted in division brings to a democratic society.”

Dr. Maria J. Stephan co-leads the Horizons Project, an organizing platform dedicated to building an inclusive, multi-racial democracy in the United States. She is the author and editor of five books, including the award-winning book (with Erica Chenoweth) Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict. She is a member of the Freedom Trainers and on the advisory council of the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence.