CHILE
CRUX
September 20, 2018
By Inés San Martín
Amid a massive global clerical sexual abuse crisis, some Chilean bishops used their traditional Te Deum celebration on Tuesday to address the problem, apologizing for the scandals that led to the country’s entire episcopacy resigning en masse, while others showed no interest in a mea culpa.
Leading the service held in the cathedral of Santiago on Sept. 18 to commemorate the country’s independence, Benedictine monk Benito Rodríguez replaced Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati in delivering the homily.
Ezzati has been subpoenaed by the prosecutors’ office to testify over accusations of having covered up cases of clerical sexual abuse. He announced over a month ago that he wouldn’t be presiding at, or attending, the prayer service that was followed by a Mass.
Among those in attendance was President Sebastián Piñera.
According to Rodríguez, the Church in Chile is living “moments of purification as perhaps never before in its life. We believe that, speaking from the poverty caused by it, without pretending to deny it or hide it, is also our way of contributing to the today of our history.”
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