Pope is seeking to use his Brazil trip to promote the Christ's divinity over the politicized Jesus embraced by liberation theologists.

Pope Benedict XVI is said to be convinced that the struggle for influence between the Roman Catholic Church and the rising tide of evangelical sects in Latin America revolves around the image of Christianity's central figure, the subject of his just published book Jesus of Nazareth, AFP wrote.

The pope, who leaves Wednesday for a five-day trip to Brazil, himself is said to have selected the theme of a conference of Latin American bishops that he is to open on Sunday: "Disciples and Missionaries of Jesus Christ, So That Our Peoples Find Life in Him."

Pentecostal sects, which revolve around a direct relationship with Jesus and the belief that this spiritual experience offers healing and personal salvation, have proliferated because of the Roman Catholic Church's failure to spread its own spiritual message, according to the Benedict.

The 80-year-old pontiff argues that the pentecostal trend has little to do with liberation theology, the movement with Marxist overtones that swept the Latin American region, especially Brazil, in the 1970s.

As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, when he headed the Vatican's doctrinal enforcement body, the pope spearheaded opposition to liberation theology, notably condemning Brazilian proponent Leonardo Boff in 1985.

Liberation theology focuses on Christ as the liberator of the oppressed and emphasizes the Christian mission of bringing justice to the poor and oppressed, particularly through political activism.

In his new book, the pope calls on Catholics to rediscover the spiritual dimension of the Christian message over earthly pursuits.

"Where God is considered a secondary dimension that you can temporarily or lastingly put aside in the name of more important things, these supposedly more important things fail," he wrote, adding, "The negative experience of Marxism is not alone in demonstrating this to us."

A leading exponent of liberation theology, which is popular across Latin America, received a Vatican warning over his writings in March saying they contained "notable discrepancies with the faith of the Church."

Spanish Jesuit Jon Sobrino, who lives in El Salvador, and other liberation theologists are accused of placing too great an emphasis on the human rather than divine nature of Jesus Christ.

"Jesus of Nazareth," published last month, is seen as Benedict's answer to popular publications such as Dan Brown's best-selling The Da Vinci Code.

The book, which seeks to reconcile the historical figure of Christ with that of the Gospels, will soon be available in Latin America, which is home to nearly half of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.

AK/BGH