Pope’s visit to Chile dogged by clerical abuse scandal
Roman Catholic churches in Chile have been firebombed and protests against sex abuse by priests organised before a visit by Pope Francis, who was due to arrive yesterday.
About 60 per cent of Chileans call themselves Roman Catholics but the church has less influence and moral authority after sex scandals, cover-ups and secularisation.
“I used to be a strong believer and churchgoer,” said Blanca Carvucho, 57, a secretary in Santiago. “All the contradictions have pushed me away.”
The pope will try to reverse the trend on his three-day visit, which gets under way today. It will be followed by a three-day trip to Peru, where a magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck on Sunday.
In Chile, Francis plans to meet migrants, members of Chile’s Mapuche indigenous group and victims of the 19731990 military dictatorship. It is unknown if he will meet sex abuse survivors.
Chile’s church earned wide respect during the 1973-1990 junta regime of Gen Augusto Pinochet because it spoke out against the military’s human rights abuses.
In 2010, victims of a politically connected priest came forward with claims that he had behaved inappropriately towards them.
Local church leaders had ignored the complaints against the Rev Fernando Karadima for years, but they were forced to open an official investigation after the victims went public and Chilean prosecutors started investigating.
The Vatican in 2011 sentenced Karadima to a lifetime of “penance and prayer” for his crimes, but the church leadership has not won back Chileans’ trust for having covered up his crimes for so long.
“The Karadima case created a ferocious wound,” said Chile’s ambassador to the Vatican, Mariano Fernandez Amunategui.
Vandals have firebombed five Santiago churches and warned that Francis would be next. Never before has such violence and opposition greeted the pope ahead of a foreign visit.