Liberation theology is a school of theology within Christianity, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church. It emphasizes the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor and oppressed, particularly through political activism. Its theologians consider sin the root source of poverty, believing sin as exploitative capitalism and class war by the rich against the poor.

Liberation Theologians use political theory, primarily democratic socialism, to help understand how to combat poverty. Some elements of certain liberation theologies have been rejected by leaders of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church over the last 30 years. At its inception, liberation theology was predominantly found in the Catholic Church after the Second Vatican Council. It is often cited as a form of Christian socialism, and it has enjoyed widespread influence in Latin America and among the Jesuits, although its influence diminished within Catholicism after liberation theologians were harshly admonished by Pope John Paul II (leading to the curtailing of its growth).

The current Pope, Benedict XVI, has long been known as an opponent of certain standards of liberation theology, and issued several condemnations of tendencies within it while head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).