Chile’s Catholic Bishops Resign Over Child-Sex Abuse Scandal

The archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, gives his first mass after returning from the Vatican, in Santiago, Friday, May 18, 2018.
The archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, gives his first mass after returning from the Vatican, in Santiago, Friday, May 18, 2018. Luis Hidalgo / AP Photo
The archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, gives his first mass after returning from the Vatican, in Santiago, Friday, May 18, 2018.
The archbishop of Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, gives his first mass after returning from the Vatican, in Santiago, Friday, May 18, 2018. Luis Hidalgo / AP Photo

Chile’s Catholic Bishops Resign Over Child-Sex Abuse Scandal

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During an emergency summit in Rome last week, all of Chile’s 31 active Roman Catholic bishops, and three retired bishops, resigned from their posts after a Vatican investigation found a broad-reaching coverup of sexual abuse in the country. The Catholic Church in Chile is a strong political force, rising to prominence in resistance to the Pinochet regime in the 1980s.

We’re joined by Bill Cavanaugh, a professor of Catholic studies, and director of the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University. He witnessed the Chilean Church’s social justice work when he lived there in the 1980s. He traces for us the chain of events that led to their self-proclaimed “pain and shame.”