Latin American Pope?

Here is an article from a 32-page special bulletin of the OSV for the week of 4/17/05:

Some call him the 'first Latin American pope'
Pontiff unleashed a revolution by confronting liberation theology on its home territory
By Alejandro Bermudez

On Jan. 27, 1979, at the Basilica of Guadalupe, while Pope John Paul II was delivering a historic homily before representatives from all of Latin America, a Peruvian journalist clearly heard Father Gustavo Gutierrez, one of the leaders of liberation theology, moan: "Damn Polish!"
At that point it was clear the then-new Pope was unleashing a revolution in Latin America when he decided to confront the growing influence of liberation theology and offer an alternative. Liberation theology finds its roots in Latin America and uses Gospel messages to promote freeing the poor from oppression -- political, social or otherwise.
According to Chilean Catholic intellectual Pedro Morandé, a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture, the change of face of the Church in Latin America "is one of the greatest and yet more understated accomplishments" of this pontificate. "Even Pope John Paul's greatest biographies have missed that particular point," Morandé claimed. In fact, it was Latin America, and not his beloved Poland, where Pope John Paul chose to start his pilgrimage around the world.

Vision of the revolution
The Pope laid down his vision of the revolution Jan. 28, 1979, during the inauguration in Mexico of the Third General Conference of Latin American Bishops. "People purport to depict Jesus as a political activist, as a fighter against Roman domination and the authorities, and even as someone involved in the class struggle," he said. "This conception of Christ as a political figure, a revolutionary, as the subversive of Nazareth, does not tally with the Church's catechesis."
After calling bishops to be "teachers of the truth about Jesus Christ, the Church and the human person," the Pope recalled that the mission of Christ "has to do with complete and integral salvation through a love that brings transformation, peace, pardon, and reconciliation. And there can be no doubt that all this imposes exacting demands on the attitude of any Christians who truly wish to serve the least of their brothers and sisters, the poor, the needy, the marginalized; all those whose lives reflect the suffering countenance of the Lord." Since then, Pope John Paul traveled to Latin America 25 times, visiting all Latin American countries save for a few Caribbean colonies. In fact, Latin America was a destination in almost a quarter of his trips outside Italy.