Chile is the new Ireland: a once proud Catholic nation dramatically turning its back on the Church. A survey by the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile has found that only 45 per cent of the 19 million population identified as Catholic in 2019, compared to 70 per cent in 2006.
This mass disaffiliation isn’t hard to explain. The country has witnessed one of the worst clerical abuse scandals of the 21st century. In May 2018, all of Chile’s active bishops offered their resignations to Pope Francis after a three-day crisis meeting at the Vatican. Police are investigating alleged cover-ups by two former archbishops of Santiago – Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati and Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa (both deny the allegations) – as well as more than 150 other cases within the Church. Not surprisingly, only 26 per cent of Chilean Catholics express confidence in the Church and only nine per cent in their priests and bishops, according to researchers.
