CELAM
In 1972, López Trujillo was elected general secretary of the Latin American Episcopal Conference, a post he held until 1984. Well known for his dislike and distrust of the radical social agenda espoused by many Latin American priests and bishops, in this capacity he led the opposition to liberation theology and succeeded in watering down or reversing many of the reforms made in that forum. He would go with paramilitaries into rural areas and slums, and tell them which priests were involved with social work or believed in liberation theology, which often caused the paramilitaries to murder those priests or force them into hiding or exile One of his major accomplishments during that period was to organize the third general conference of Latin American Bishops in 1979, in which Pope John Paul II participated. That same year, he became Archbishop of Medellín.