Americas

Santiago, Chile, Jan 15, 2018 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- On the eve of Pope Francis’ visit to Chile, an attack on a church was reported in the city of Melipilla, an hour outside of Santiago. This was the sixth attack on Catholic
churches in protest of the pontiff’s visit.

Local media reported that around 1:00 am on Sunday, masked individuals threw an explosive at St. Augustine Church, damaging the main door and part of the entrance. Police and firemen responded to the scene.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”es” dir=”ltr”>ACTUALIZADO + FOTOS | Iglesia de Melipilla sufre ataque incendiario en la víspera de la visita papal <a href=”https://t.co/PUveGqBmHG”>https://t.co/PUveGqBmHG</a> <a href=”https://t.co/3ke44Bj3UM”>pic.twitter.com/3ke44Bj3UM</a></p>&mdash; BioBioChile (@biobio) <a href=”https://twitter.com/biobio/status/952448642266345474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>January 14, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The attackers also spray painted the sidewalk with this message: “The only church that illuminates is the one that burns, the one in flames. Hah-Hah No to the Pope.”

The Church in Chile has been plagued by protests, many centering around the case of Father Fernando Karadima a once-popular Chilean priest convicted  by the Church in 2011 of sexually abusing minors but, controversially, not laicized. Other protests have been related to the political status of the Mapuche, Chile’s largest indigenous group. Still another group of protesters attacked the apostolic nunciature, the Vatican Embassy in Chile, on Jan. 12, opposing the cost of the papal visit to the Chilean government.

The Diocese of San José condemned the Melipilla attack in a Facebook post, and noted that “Saint Augustine Church is the only building on the national register of historical places in the city of Melipilla.”

“We repudiate this act of hatred against the faith. Today we ask you to raise up a special prayer for those who committed this act of clear religious intolerance,” the diocese said.

Bio Bio Radio reported that the fire did not do a lot of damage and there were no injuries, since the church was closed down after a 2010 earthquake and is still being remodeled.

Local police are conducting an investigation to find the whereabouts of those involved.

Prior to this attack, three other Catholic churches in Santiago were attacked in the early hours of Jan. 12 and suspicious devices were found at two others.

The Archdiocese of Santiago expressed its deep sorrow for those attacks, and said that they do not represent “the feeling of the vast majority of the population.”

“We are deeply pained by these incidents which contradict the spirit of peace which animates the pope’s visit to the country,” the archdiocese said.

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Santiago, Chile, Jan 13, 2018 / 04:00 am (ACI Prensa).- As Pope Francis prepares to visit Chile next week, the inmates at San Joaquin Women’s Penitentiary Center in Santiago are cleaning, decorating, and preparing for what they believe is a providential papal visit.

The Pope will visit the prison on Jan. 16, making a 40-minute stop to meet with the women there.

Ever since the Holy Father’s visit was confirmed, the 620 women incarcerated in the prison – serving sentences for drug trafficking, homicide, robbery or other crimes – have been planning for the encounter.

“People are suffering here, there’s a lot of pain, and that the Pope would come and remember us means that God has remembered us,” said inmate Nelly Dominguez. “I believe it’s the providence of God, nothing less.”

Dominguez is serving a 15-year sentence for drug trafficking. “For me, this visit is a before-and-after,” she told ACI Prensa. “Not just in my life but in the lives of all the people here.”

“I am in the process of changing, I’m working on my spiritual life, I intend to change,” she said.

“I think good things are coming for Chile,” she added, describing the Pope’s upcoming visit as “a very great blessing from God.”

Dominguez and the prison’s other inmates are making the paper decorations for the garlands that will decorate the gymnasium where the Pope will meet with the prisoners. They are constructing 7,000 paper doves and 5,000 flowers.

As part of the program, the prison choir will perform a song composed by the inmates. Entitled “Shepherd who smells of the sheep,” the song talks about life in the prison, and the pain and hopes of the women.

Sister Nelly León, a member of the Congregation of the Good Shepherd, works in the prison. She told ACI Prensa that the time of preparation is one of “a lot of joy, festivity and gladness. It’s a second Advent for us.”

The religious sister said her community has created worksheets entitled “From Forgiveness to Peace” to help the prison population spiritually prepare.

The inmates “feel a special connection with Jesus who welcomes them,” Sister León said. She compared the Pope traveling through Chile and stopping at the prison with Jesus stopping to encounter people at various moments of his earthly life, such as Martha and Mary, the woman caught in adultery, the Samaritan woman at the well, and Veronica during the Way of the Cross.

Sister León will deliver a welcome speech to Pope Francis. She said the first thing she will do is thank the pontiff for “showing his concern for incarcerated women, because he has shown his concern for the poorest of the poor, and because his presence dignifies the lives of people in prison.”

Staff members at the women’s prison agreed that the encounter will be special for everyone involved.

Petty Officer Alicia Contreras, who participates in the prison ministry, said she thinks the visit with renew the faith of all those who participate.

Chile’s national police chief, Jaime Rojas, expressed his hope that the visit will reinforce the country’s commitment to reintegrating released prisoners back into society through education, work and spiritual support. He added that he hopes the visit will “shake up the consciences of Chileans.”

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Santiago, Chile, Jan 12, 2018 / 02:42 pm (ACI Prensa).- Just days before Pope Francis’ visit to Chile, three Catholic churches in the capital of Santiago were attacked by unknown assailants.  

A fourth church – Christ the Poor Man Shrine – was targeted by a bomb threat and was subsequently investigated by a bomb squad.

Hours before, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in the Estación Central district was fire bombed. The arsonists fled the scene, leaving behind messages against the Holy Father’s visit to the country.

“Pope Francis, the next bombs will be in your cassock,” said a pamphlet left behind.

The community of priests that live at Saint Elizabeth’s and the neighbors immediately worked to extinguish the fire, which damaged the entrance doors and several windows.

Two other chapels in the city also suffered damage, including broken windows and doors.

At some of the churches, pamphlets were left behind, saying, “We will never submit to the dominion they want to exercise over our bodies, our ideas and actions because we were born free to decide the path we want to take…We are attacking with the fire of battle, making your disgusting morals explode.”

The pamphlets also called for “autonomy and resistance” in the Mapuche conflict. The Mapuche are the largest indigenous group in the country. Many of them live in the region of Araucania, which Pope Francis will visit during his trip.

Chile incorporated Araucania by military conquest between 1861 and 1883, resulting in a major rift between the government and the Mapuche people. The tension continues to this day, with Mapuche communities calling for the return of ancestral lands, respect for their cultural identity, and in some cases, autonomy.

“This was a cowardly act. I’m upset, pained, because this is a poor community, a struggling community: these are people who don’t know the consequence of what they’re doing,” the parochial vicar Fr. Marcelo Cabezas lamented.

“On the other hand, if there are attacks, it’s because we’re having an impact as Catholics,” he said.

No one was injured in any of the attacks. Police investigators are on location to determine if the attacks were related.

Deputy Secretary of the Interior, Mahmud Aleuy, visited the damaged churches and said the Government of Chile will prosecute the offenders when found.

The Archdiocese of Santiago released a statement saying, “We are deeply pained by these incidents, which contradict the spirit of peace that animates the Pope’s visit to the country.”

“With humility and serenity we call on those who have committed these acts, which we consider in no way to represent the feeling of the vast majority of the population, to reflect on the need that exists for respect and tolerance among all, to build a homeland of brothers.”

Later in the morning, a group of protestors stormed the apostolic nunciature, before the police arrived and evicted them from the building.

Roxana Miranda, head of wrote a group that protests high mortgage rates, took responsibility for the nunciature protest in a Twitter statement. She said the group was protesting the cost of the papal visit.

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Temuco, Chile, Jan 10, 2018 / 03:03 pm (ACI Prensa).- Pope Francis will spend a day in Temuco, the capital of a Chilean region with a large indigenous population, during his Jan. 15-18 visit to the nation. The city’s bishop has said the Pope decided to come to the area because it represents Chile’s peripheries.

“If we look at where the Pope likes to go when on a visit, it is precisely the borders, the existential borders, where there is pain, where there is suffering, where there are wounds, where there is poverty, Bishop Hector Vargas Bastidas of Temuco told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language sister news agency.

Temuco is the capital of Araucania, a region in south-central Chile where one-third of the population is ethnic Mapuche, who are by far the country’s largest indigenous group.

Bishop Vargas offered the indigenous population, their conflict with the Chilean state, and the region’s poverty as three reasons Pope Francis has chosen to visit Temuco.

During his Jan. 17 visit to the city, the Pope will say Mass at Maquehue Airport and will lunch with inhabitants of Araucania at the Madre de la Santa Cruz house.

Bishop Vargas explained that some 200,000 Mapuche people live in Araucania and live profoundly  “their Mapuche identity, their worldview.”

While many Mapuche have moved to Santiago, the Chilean capital, many who have remained in Araucania live in their communities led by and encouraged by their ancestral authorities.

“There is a very great richness there,” the bishop explained. “This is a region where the issue of inter-culturalism is lived out and understood more and more, so this is a very important reason that the Pope certainly considered in planning his visit.”

He cited the Mapuche conflict as a second reason for Pope Francis’ visit.

Chile incorporated Araucania by military conquest between 1861 and 1883, and the manner of the region’s “pacification” led to “a major rift  between the government and the Mapuche people,” Bishop Vargas explained.

“A very great historic debt was created with this people, who are still waiting for this debt to be rectified,” he said.

Mapuche communities ask for the return of ancestral lands, respect for their cultural identity, and even autonomy.

Even though the majority of those involved in trying to settle the conflict are working to find solutions, the bishop pointed out that some radicalized groups in the minority “unfortunately think that this can be solved or that much more rapid progress can be made through violence.”

From 2014 through 2017, thirteen Catholic churches were burned by these groups.

“The violence has only brought more poverty, new injustices, and new suffering,” the Bishop of Temuco lamented. In 2016 he took on the responsibility of acting as a facilitator in talks between the government and the Mapuche people.

Finally, Bishop Vargas explained that among the country’s 15 regions, Araucania “ranks first in poverty in Chile.”

According to a 2015 government survey, 23.6 percent of the people in this region are living below the poverty line, the highest rate in the country. And a 2017 survey showed an unemployment rate in the region of 8.4 percent, the nation’s second highest.

Given this situation, Bishop Vargas said that “the transformation that one and all hope for in Araucania is going to come only if all of us who live here changes our hearts.”

“First of all, we have to change our hearts, we have to grow in humanity; then, laws and decrees will have their place. What people want will not be achieved if first we don’t undergo a conversion and a major transformation, and that is something only the Lord can give,” he concluded.

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This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Santiago, Chile, Jan 5, 2018 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Less than two weeks before Pope Francis will arrive for a pastoral visit to Chile, more than 2,500 college students were sent on mission to serve the country’s rural Catholic communities.

The young… […]

Caracas, Venezuela, Jan 4, 2018 / 05:19 pm (ACI Prensa).- In his New Year’s message, the Archbishop of Caracas encouraged transparent elections the results of which the citizenry could trust, in order to alleviate the grave crisis affecting the country.

“The year 2017 was very tragic for Venezuela, marked by political violence with a terrible toll of more than 120 persons killed in attacks on demonstrations held by the people,” read the message of Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino.

Venezuela is experiencing a severe economic crisis, with hyperinflation and chronic shortages of food and medicine.

Its socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, is due to run for re-election this year, as his term ends in 2019. Last July, contested elections led to the formation of a Constituent Assembly, which has superseded the authority of the National Assembly, Venezuela’s opposition-controlled legislature.

Mass protests against the Constituent Assembly were held, in which more than 120 people were killed by security forces.

After rejecting violence “wherever it comes from” and encouraging the peaceful defense of everyone’s rights, the cardinal’s message stated that “in order to resolve this situation, which has its roots in the political problem, it is necessary to hold the presidential elections for which the constitution calls. But for that, it is necessary to guarantee fair and reasonable conditions for elections with transparency and whose results the people can trust.”

Cardinal Urosa was joined in his message by his four auxiliary bishops. The text is to be read in the parishes of the Caracas archdiocese Jan. 6-7.

The cardinal and his auxiliary bishops reiterated their call to release “prisoners held for actions related to political activities.” The bishops’ message stated that “We are pleased that some positive steps have already been taken in that regard.”

More than 180 political prisoners have been held in Venezuela, and the government announced it would release 80 of them as a goodwill gesture for Christmas.

 Given the serious shortage of food the prelates urged solidarity, with concrete actions such as “soup kitchens and with everything that can alleviate the tragedy of the poor, especially malnourished children.”

The message also noted that “moved by our faith and full of hope despite so many difficulties, we begin this 2018 New Year with sentiments of trust in God and hopeful of a happier world for us, our families, and our beloved Venezuela.”

“To accomplish this let us recall that God grants happiness only to those who listen to his word and fulfill it,” they continued.

“Let us ask God to help us to go by the only way to happiness, the way of Jesus that our holy Catholic religion teaches us,” they exhorted.

To arrive at happiness, they said, “let us resolve to lead a religious life, drawing close to the Lord, especially celebrating on Sundays his glorious resurrection in the Holy Eucharist, living a life closer to God, the sole source of true happiness.”  

Concluding their message, the bishops asked God that the political leaders, “whether in the ruling party or in the opposition, may have the light and strength to act on behalf of the common good, with a truly patriotic spirit, to resolve the pending problems.”

Frustration in Venezuela has been building for years due to poor economic policies, including strict price controls coupled with high inflation rates, which have resulted in a severe lack of basic necessities such as toilet paper, milk, flour, diapers, and medicines.

Venezuela’s socialist government is widely blamed for the crisis. Since 2003, price controls on some 160 products, including cooking oil, soap and flour, have meant that while they are affordable, they fly off store shelves only to be resold on the black market at much higher rates.

The International Monetary Fund has forecasted an inflation rate of 2,300 percent in Venezuela in 2018.

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Dec 21, 2017 / 01:38 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An Italian media outlet has reported allegations of financial mismanagement on the part of Honduran Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga, although no formal allegations or charges have been raised ag… […]

Montevideo, Uruguay, Dec 20, 2017 / 04:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A project to end the drug scourge in Uruguay has drawn inspiration from the parents of the “Little Flower” Saint Therese of Lisieux.

Saint Louis Martin and Saint Zelie Guerin, … […]

Guatemala City, Guatemala, Dec 15, 2017 / 12:05 am (ACI Prensa).- The Supreme Court of Guatemala has ruled that the distribution of a manual promoting abortion must be stopped.

The manual, “Human rights, sexual and reproductive rights and healthcare for girls and adolescents,” had been financed by the UN Population Fund.

It had been promoted since 2015 by the Ombudsman for Human Rights at the time, Jorge De Leon Duque.

The Guatemalan judiciary issued its ruling Dec. 8. A press conference held by the Family Matters Association (FMA) and congressman José Rodrigo Valladares discussed the decision.

The Family Matters Association had filed for an injunction on June 22, 2017 against De Leon Duque “to invalidate the use of the manual and to demand the ombudsman’s office stop promoting abortion.” Congressman Rodrigo Valladares subsequently joined the injunction filing.

The Supreme Court’s ruling also ordered the Ombudsman’s Office for Human Rights “to refrain from carrying out any activity which entails supporting or promoting abortion or abortion practices, their presentation (of it) as a right, the promotion of its legalization or the violation of the right to life from conception,” the FMA reported.

It also set a deadline of three months for the current ombudsman, Jordan Rodas Andrade, “to develop the necessary materials to counteract the harm done by the manual in question.”

In addition, the FMA stressed that the court has recognized that the ombudsman “has the grave and solemn obligation to defend life from its conception, an obligation he freely and voluntarily assumed by the oath to uphold the Constitution which he took in Congress at the time he accepted his office, if he wants to serve the nation.”

The court ruling states that “any report, study, investigation, publication, campaign or activity that the Ombudsman carries out must seek to defend the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution. Otherwise he would be exceeding his authority as provided by law.”

The FMA also emphasized that the court enjoined Rodas Andrade to avoid “reverting to the actions of your predecessor, and to refrain from carrying out any activity which promotes abortion directly or indirectly” and to not join the campaigns or use the slogans “ of those who in the supposed defense of the rights of women in vulnerable situations are promoting abortion under the disguised label of ‘sexual and reproductive rights.’”

Current Ombudsman Jordan Rodas posted on his office’s website a statement in which he disclaimed any responsibility for the manual promoted by his predecessor.

He pointed out that the manual “was not developed under my management,” but “was presented, published and distributed by the administration of my predecessor, Jorge De Leon Duque.”

In addition, Jordan Rodas emphasized that “starting August 20, the day I took office, until this very day, at no time have I made a statement about abortion.”

The FMA offered that it is “at the disposal of the ombudsman and his entire team, to give priority to and timely compliance with the Supreme Court’s order.”

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Lima, Peru, Dec 13, 2017 / 03:08 pm (CNA).- Criminal prosecutors in Peru have requested that Luis Fernando Figari be incarcerated by a court order, while he is investigated for charges of psychological and sexual abuse.

Figari is the founder of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a religious community of men, and the Marian Community of Reconciliation, a community of women.  In 2002, he was named a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and served in subsequent consultative roles at the Vatican.  

He has been the subject of abuse allegations since 2011.

According to local press reports, the Peruvian prosecutor requested that other former members of the SCV also be incarcerated while they are subject of abuse. Virgilio Levaggi, Jeffery Daniels and Daniel Murguia are also suspected of sexual and psychological abuse of Sodalitium members, and of collusion with Figari in covering-up abuse.

The prosecutor also requested that Ricardo Treneman and Oscar Tokumura, members of the Sodalitium, be subject to travel restrictions.
 
Peruvian law permits judges to remand suspects of criminal activity to incarceration while they are being investigated, if they are considered flight risks, or to pose grave danger. A criminal investigation against the men began in January 2017.

A judge must decide within 48 hours whether to grant the prosecution’s request for temporary incarceration.

In February of this year, a team of independent investigators commissioned by the Sodalitium reported that  “Figari sexually assaulted at least one child, manipulated, sexually abused, or harmed several other young people; and physically or psychologically abused dozens of others.”

The investigative team included a former FBI agent, and several experts on sexual abuse. All details of the independent investigation were given to the media and to Peruvian authorities.

The report concluded that “between 1975 and 2000 and once in 2007, five members of Sodalitium, including Figari, sexually abused minors.”

The five members alleged to have committed sexaul abuse are Figari, German Doig, who died in 2001, Virgilio Levaggi, Jeffrey Daniels and Daniel Murguía.

Of these five, only Figari remains a member of the Sodalitium. In February 2017, the Vatican’s congregation for religious life issued a decree forbidding him from any contact with the religious community, and banning him from returning to Peru without permission from the current superior of the Sodalitium. Figari was also forbidden to make any public statements.

The executive director of CNA and ACI Prensa, Alejandro Bermudez, is a member of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.

This story was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. CNA has adapted it and provided additional reporting.

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