According to the latest poll by the International Social Survey Program, the credibility of the Church among Chileans is today at a historic low, going from 51 percent of trust in 1998 to 13 percent in October 2018.
In May of last year, Pope Francis diagnosed part of the problem: a culture of clerical sexual abuse and cover-up. According to Joaquin Silva, a lay man and Dean of the Faculty of Theology of Chile’s Catholic University, the Chilean Church today is in “shock” and cannot overcome its “perplexity” over the pope’s diagnosis.
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Church in Chile shocked over abuse crisis
Ines San Martin, CRUX
Monday, May 20, 2019
In May of last year, Pope Francis diagnosed part of the problem: a culture of clerical sexual abuse and cover-up. According to Joaquin Silva, a lay man and Dean of the Faculty of Theology of Chile’s Catholic University, the Chilean Church today is in “shock” and cannot overcome its “perplexity” over the pope’s diagnosis.