ABSTRACT
Newly integrated into the country's educational system and enjoying unprecedented influence within the ruling party, the church was undertaking a reinvigoration of its parish-based spiritual organizations. Its political position solidified by entering into an unprecedented, highly controversial alliance with the country's Communist party, now called the Partido Vanguardia Popular (PVP) the church entered the field of labor organization. The political alliance between the church and the PVP was cemented with the public exchange of letters between Manuel Mora, Secretary General of the Communist party, and Archbishop Víctor Sanabria on June 14, 1943. The Catholic labor organization was created to fulfil three objectives: to increase the number of organized workers, to strengthen the institutional foundation of the church, and to moderate PVP-dominated organizations. The political isolation of the church was compounded by its weak numerical presence in the country's population. The church developed a two-pronged strategy to bolster its authority among the population.
