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General Resources
- Christian Base Communities: A Historical Perspective"Christian Base Communities have been hailed as 'Latin America's most important recent contribution to the Roman Catholic Church's pastoral practice worldwide'. Liberation theologian Gustavo Gutiérrez says that they are 'one of the most fruitful and significant events in the present day life of the Latin American church'. He adds that 'their growth throughout our continent has helped to raise the hopes of the poor and oppressed ... "
- Religion, Politics and Death: Martyrdom and persecution in twentieth-century Latin America"The paper recounts the stories of Christian martyrs in Latin America from the 1920s to the present, so as to illustrate the causes of the killings of both Protestants and Catholics. The review of cases reveals the differences over time, with the Second Vatican Council marking the primary dividing point, as it produced a complex transformation of faith-based social movements in Latin America. The impact of liberation theology recurs in many cases of clergy and lay believers targeted by civil wars and dictatorships."
- Revolution, Counterrevolution, and the Catholic Church in Chile"This article traces the moral and political role of the Catholic Church in Chile from the colonial period, through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, to the upheavals of the last 25 years. During the last period, conservative, reformist, revolutionary, and counterrevolutionary governments succeeded one another in power, and each sought legitimation-or at least cooperation-from the church ... "
- Pinochet and the Catholic ChurchPodcast 4 from the Chile and the Cold War Podcast Series investigates the tense relationship between the Catholic Church and the Pinochet regime, especially under the leadership of Santiago Archbishop Raúl Silva Henríquez.
By Benjamin Fuller - Pinochet's Plebiscite and the Catholics: The Dual Role of the Chilean ChurchFor decades the Catholic Church and Chilean military embraced common concerns. Each was an advocate of stability, law and order, social harmony and an opponent of radical political movements. Their occupation of such extensive common political, social and economic ground made them natural allies.
- Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez, the Catholic Church, and the Pinochet Regime, 1973-1980: Public Responses to a National Security StateAfter the military coup of 1973 Augusto Pinochet created the to reinvent Chile in terms of a country that was under attack from foreign elements. As political parties and all public organizations banned, the Catholic Church assumed the task of defender of human rights and opposition party.
- Between Religion and Politics: The Military Clergy during the Late Twentieth-Century Dictatorships in Argentina and ChileThis article analyses the history of the military clergy and contrasts its role in the Argentine and Chilean dictatorships on the basis of new, previously inaccessible sources. It is argued here that, in addition to its ideological orientation, two further factors explain differences in the influence of the military clergy on the two regimes: first, the structural position that the Military Vicariates occupied between the Church and the armed forces, and, second, the two dictatorships' different needs for legitimisation. The analysis provides information relevant to understanding the public role of the Catholic Church and the dimensions of violence during the regimes.
- Military Dictatorship and Political Opposition in Chile, 1973-1986IN 1970, DR. SALVADOR ALLENDE, presidential candidate of the Unidad Popular coalition, won a plurality - but not a majority - of votes from the Chilean electorate. Consequently, and in accord with Chilean electoral laws and constitution, the Chilean Congress was called upon to vote for the
president, and it selected Dr. Allende as the country's new president. Soon thereafter a wave of opposition to his administration developed among business and middle-class sectors: Rightist political movements and parties entrepreneurial associations, some white-collar unions, as well as groups representing both commercial interests and those of small business. Eventually this opposition determined that "the government of Allende was incompatible with the survival of freedom and private enterprise in Chile, (and) that the only way to avoid their extinction was to overthrow the government" (Cauce, 1) - Why Allende FailedThe downfall of Allende had nothing to do with socialism. It was caused by poor leadership, poor planning and a lack of economic realism.
- The Paradox of Institutionalization: The Roman Catholic Church in Chile and BrazilAlthough the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America has become known as an agent of religious and social change, the majority of bishops there do not appear to advocate any drastic restructuring of church or society. This seeming contradiction may be explained by reference to the concept of institutionalization. An examination of the development of religious innovations in Chile and Brazil reveals that they originally emerged because of the episcopate's interest in defending the church against perceived threats to its influence by Marxists and evangelical Protestants. However, once the innovations became institutionalized - that is, established as an integral part of Catholic belief and practice - they set in motion a dynamic for change that would lead to challenges of both political and religious structures.
- Religion and Nonviolent Movements: The Catholic Church's Influence on Chilean Resistance.This study examines the relationship between religion and nonviolent resistance. I assess the influence of the Catholic Church in Chile on the nonviolent opposition to the Pinochet‐led military regime by producing a systematic account of the Church's contribution to twelve factors necessary for successful nonviolent movements. The Church's role was the most crucial in that it provided organizational strength and resources, delegitimized the opponent's strategy for consolidating control, and helped formulate objectives for the opposition. The role of the Catholic Church in opposing the Pinochet regime in Chile provides an instructive case study of the influential and determinative role religious institutions can play in the outcomes of nonviolent social movements.
- STRUGGLE AND RECONCILIATION: SOME REFLECTIONS ON ECUMENISM IN CHILE.To engage in ecumenism and common witness is always a challenge when one church predominates in a society. In the case of many Latin American countries, the Catholic Church is both historically and demographically dominant, and often has a history of special relations with the states. Protestants, on the other hand, come mostly from evangelical and Pentecostal traditions with little ecumenical history or motivation. This article outlines some of the 20th century history of the churches in Chile against the background of the reception of Vatican II, and especially its leadership on religious freedom and ecumenism. Social und political events in Chile, as well as the particular demography and history of its Christianity, make this a unique context for ecumenical development. Some of these factors and the churches' responses are outlined as resources for global Christian reflection on mission unity and society.
Pinochet
News
News Reports
- AP NewsThe Catholic Church defended human rights during Chile’s dictatorship. An archive tells the story.
- Katharine Davis on the Role of the Catholic Church in Politics in ChileChile has traditionally been a Catholic country, and almost 90 percent of the population continues to be at least nominally Catholic today. Church and state were officially separated in 1925, but religion has helped to shape the policies and decisions of the government in matters ranging from the direct involvement of the Church during colonialism to the pope’s arbitration of the Beagle Channel dispute in 1985 to the socially conservative policies that continue to exist today. For centuries and particularly during the military dictatorship, the Catholic Church has played an interesting part in Chilean politics and society, but its future influence remains uncertain.
Book
The Pinochet File by Publication Date: 2013-09-11Revised and updated: the definitive primary-source history of US involvement in General Pinochet's Chilean coup--"the evidence is overwhelming" (The New Yorker). Published to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of General Augusto Pinochet's infamous September 11, 1973, military coup in Chile, this updated edition of The Pinochet File reveals the shocking, formerly secret record of the US government's complicity with atrocity in a foreign country. The book now completes the file on Pinochet's story, detailing his multiple indictments between 2004 and his death on December 10, 2006, including the Riggs Bank scandal that revealed how the dictator had illegally squirreled away over $26 million in ill-begotten wealth in secret American bank accounts. When it was first released in hardcover, The Pinochet File contributed to the international campaign to hold Pinochet accountable for murder, torture, and terrorism. A new afterword tells the extraordinary story of Henry Kissinger's attempt to undercut the book's reception--efforts that generated a major scandal that led to a high-level resignation at the Council on Foreign Relations, illustrating the continued ability of the book to speak truth to power.
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