five years later, the Chilean bishops are struggling to convince

The gesture had struck the spirits: in May 2018, all the bishops then stationed in Chile handed over their charge to Pope Francis. The decision was a response to the fiasco of the papal trip to their country a few months earlier, which had brought to light their calamitous handling of sexual violence committed by members of the Chilean clergy… It had splashed Francis, who had become entangled in the defense of one of them.

“After the Pope’s visit, it became clear that behind the abuses were hidden relational problems and structural issues that needed to be examined more closely in order to forge a culture of care”, analyzes Bishop Sergio Pérez of Arce Arriagada, Bishop of Chillán and General Secretary of the Episcopal Conference of Chile. Since then, he lists, a number of measures have been taken, ranging from the “strengthening” of the prevention council – “whose presidency is now entrusted to a lay woman and not to a bishop” – to various training measures for agents. pastorals. At the same time, the number of criminal proceedings against priests has “significantly increased”, canonically leading to the loss of the clerical state for many of them.

The resigning bishops still in the majority

However, these measures do not seem to convince the Chileans. According to a recent poll, only one in five say they trust the Catholic Church – up from seven in ten just fifteen years ago. A situation “completely understandable, given the seriousness of the crimes committed”, recognizes the bishop of Chillán.

For some, like José Andrés Murillo, co-founder of an association for the protection of minors, himself the victim of a priest in his youth, the very attitude of the bishops does not restore confidence. “Only one or two members of the Episcopal Conference want to move things forward, the others remain in an attitude of waiting for the storm to pass”, he tackles.

In fact, notes the historian of religions Marcial Sánchez Gaete, out of the thirty resignations submitted to him in 2018, Francis finally accepted only seven. With the consequence, according to the historian, that the episcopate does not has not been fundamentally overhauled since the 2018 crisis – although a few other resignations have been added to the initial seven, in particular for reasons of age. “The bishops appointed after 2018 remain in the minority,” he notes, seeing in this a brake on a real shift in the episcopate on the subject.

A “spectator” Church

“Many victims are hoping for profound changes, in listening and in procedures as well as in the ecclesial system, but this cannot be seen for the moment”, still considers the historian. Thus José Andrés Murillo hopes for a “genuine awareness that the fight against abuse involves decisions on the management, distribution and exercise of power in the Church”. For him, the financing by the Church of an independent commission, similar to the French Ciase, would be a first step.

“Much remains to be done to contribute to the means of reparation for victims”, which requires a “cultural change within our Church”, recognizes the secretary general of the episcopal conference. There is urgency because, although Chileans are turning away from the practice, they do not lose their faith. A double-edged observation, according to Marcial Sánchez Gaete: “the Church no longer interests us”, and religiosity seems to be able to express itself without it.

Another consequence is that the Catholic Church has remained out of touch during the major social movement, followed by a constitutional overhaul, that Chile has experienced in recent years. “While she had been so important for the democratic transition after the fall of Pinochet, analyzes the historian, she was not in the middle of the people this time. For the first time in the country’s history, she remained a spectator. »

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