Church and State in Honduras and Nicaragua Prior to 1979

The Honduran Catholic Church played a crucial role in pushing for radical reform during the 1960s, well before its counterparts in Latin America. In neighboring Nicaragua, Church policy bolstered the Somoza regime, changing only with the emergence of revolution in the 1970s. The Catholic Church played markedly different roles in Nicaragua and Honduras prior to 1979. Much of this contrast is best explained in reference to state structures and their relationship to the Church. The purpose of this article is to examine how state institutions influence, and are influenced by, powerful “nonstate” actors such as the Church. Such an approach explains divergent patterns of church-state relations in Nicaragua and Honduras.