Papal transitions can lead to shifts in doctrinal emphasis within domestic churches. This paper examines the impact of such shifts by analyzing the Catholic Church’s rollback of progressivism in Latin America following Pope John Paul II’s 1978 appointment, which curbed the influence of progressive priests and bishops who had actively promoted redistributive agendas and supported numerous redistribution movements. Focusing on Brazil, where progressives played a central role in the landless movement, we leverage the staggered replacement of progressive bishops with conservative successors upon reaching retirement age, to study the effect of this rollback on land conflict. We find that the removal of progressive leaders significantly reduced land invasions, primarily by curtailing new conflicts under conservative bishops. This effect was most pronounced in areas where the Church itself was a major landholder, suggesting that conservative bishops acted at least partially to preserve institutional interests by limiting redistribution. These findings highlight how shifts in Church leadership can shape the conditions under which redistributive movements emerge or are suppressed, offering broader insights into the role of religious institutions in social conflict.

Sexual and reproductive health policies often confront deeply rooted religious opposition that can limit their effectiveness. This paper examines how Zambia’s 2014 Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) reform interacted with the rapid expansion of non-traditional Christian churches that strongly opposed the policy. Using a difference-in-differences strategy that exploits predetermined variation in individuals’ exposure to these churches, we show that local religious environments critically conditioned the reform’s impact. Individuals more exposed to non-traditional Christian churches experienced post-reform behavioral changes that ran counter to policy objectives, including lower use of modern contraceptives and higher rates of teen pregnancy. We document a dual mechanism: churches influence youth directly through religious messaging and indirectly by shaping how schools deliver the curriculum.