The Catholic Church insists on a middle ground between extreme forms of capitalism and socialism. Official bulletins of the church emphasise that these extreme forms of economic, political, and social organisation are incompatible with the Christian living.

 In Brazil, Peru, Salvador, and Chile, where the Catholic Church was once politically active and later lack of institutional capacity, Catholic Church decline to progressive activism.  In a post-Cold War, the church realises that focusing on grand political designs would probably create more enemies, therefore church gains in its social involvement in the educational and social welfare activities. These involvements have actually increased its political role in some of the key areas of decision making in Latin America.

 Catholic Church was always intimately involved in the Latin American politics. Prior to 1960, this link was sustained by the Church support of the status quo. Since the Cuban Revolution, its political role has taken various active forms and shapes, all in the pursuit of the same larger goal: to maintain its pervasive influence in all major areas of the Latin American society. In the early 1800s, modern state in the structuring of authority relations came into conflict with the traditional authority of the church. But despite the rise of the state, the Catholic Church continued to create space for itself. 

 The new political role entails attempts to address the poverty, growing power and social inequity, formal education and health care.  The failure of secular states in the past to eliminate these social problems fuelled popular aspirations to seek spiritual refuge in the churches.  In the current political climate, role is influenced by religious competition with the protestant churches which have made much headway all across Latin America. With many popular religions manifesting as well in a more organised form than before, Latin America has indeed become a marketplace for competing religions and the implications are far-reaching for society and politics

 The Catholic Church has consistently influenced the ideology in Chile and Venezuela.  Competition with other religion as well as secular groups has compelled the Catholic Church to consider important issues of democracy, human rights, and the usefulness of the marketplace in addressing some of the popular concerns in Latin America. Political competition hits also prompted the Catholic Church to engage in areas of mutually beneficial cooperation with the government. In countries such as Brazil in the areas of social welfare and education, the church has received impressive amounts of subsidies from the state. Establishing a presence in education has been the Church's larger strategy of assuring itself a prominent position in the national decision-making.

 Under the new scenario in which the Church has to work for the loyalty of the masses, members of the Catholic clergy have opted for negotiation and conciliation with the various factions of the hierarchy.  The Catholic Church is increasingly pursuing quite innovative strategies to withstand competition from other religious and secular forces. These ventures have materialised in different forms and shapes depending on the country and region in question.  Similarly, in Venezuela for example, the Catholic Church has granted much pastoral autonomy to the local level religious personnel in the remote areas of the country. Members of the Catholic religious order in these vicariates and evangelical centres maintain nominal ties with the parishes under which they operate. The number of Catholic priests has grown in the poorer areas considerably.