“Our ministry consists of bringing everyone closer to God, at every moment in which they are,” says Father Enrique Saguier Fonrouge, an 80-year-old military chaplain, who for six years was, in his own words, “coming and going” to Antarctica, accompanying the different campaigns that started from Argentina.
Many countries have their bases on the Antarctic continent, the southernmost continent in the world, where the temperature can exceed 60 degrees Celsius below zero. In some of them, dedicated mainly to scientific research, the Catholic Church has a presence, with chapels or oratories to sustain the spiritual life of those who travel to work for long periods, which can be from months to a few years, in cases where the icebreaker cannot access to look for them.
Esperanza Base, the only Argentine base with families living there permanently, has the San Francisco de Asís chapel, the first to be built. The Orcadas Base, for its part, has the Stella Maris chapel, which arouses great devotion among sea workers. At the Marambio Base there is the Nuestra Señora de Luján Chapel, and at the Belgrano II Base, Nuestra Señora de las Nieves.