Increasing involvement in the education of elites led to the emergence of new and politically diverse movements among the laity, while attempts to assert more orthodox Catholicism among marginalized peoples increased awareness of the plight of peasants and Indians among the lower clergy and some bishops. Many clergy members and lay leaders thus supported the attempts at social and political reform that took place during the post-Vargas Republic. However, growing unrest and fear of Communism led the Church hierarchy to endorse the military coup of 1964. Still, a few bishops and numerous priests, particularly in the poorer regions, strongly criticized the military government's economic policies and human rights record. During the 1970s, the Catholic Church emerged as a key pro-democracy voice within civil society. Ecclesiastical Base Communities (CEBs), small groups of believers who focused on linking grassroots religious and secular change, spread throughout the countryside. These became the foundations of the so-called "popular church," which assertively advocated social justice and became increasingly influential within the Church. By 1979, the Brazilian Church was the most progressive in Latin America, while managing to avoid many of the confrontations between radicals and conservatives that wracked other churches in the region.