It's only recently the Catholic Church has gone so nutso right-wing - in even recent decades they were heavy on the social justice, relatively speaking.
The current Pope is pretty progressive. Case in point that I read earlier today:
"The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us,
with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not
just Catholics. Everyone! `Father, the
atheists?' Even the atheists. Everyone!"
The Catholic Church (including its heirarchy) has always (at least, since it became established within the Roman State) included both factions that are extremely pro-elite and those that are extremely social-justice oriented, as well as everything in between.
