Cardinal Fernando Chomali, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, referred to the abortion bill at Christmas Mass, following the government’s decision to postpone its discussion until 2025.
“I have received many gifts by the way, but there is an extraordinary one that the Government has given to the entire country, which is not persevering with the law of free abortion,” said the cardinal, according to CNN.
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“We understand that there are very complex pregnancies, but it is not solved by eliminating the life of an innocent person,” he stated.
From the Church, he emphasized, “we want to collaborate hard so that every woman with difficult pregnancies has a space for her and her child to be born and live healthy and with joy,” he considered.
His statements caused an echo in the political sector. The Minister of Women and Gender Equality, Antonia Orellana, questioned the cardinal’s words in dialogue with Cooperative Radiosaying that “the decisions that are made are not made thinking about the wishes of the princes of the Church, which is what it means to be a cardinal.”
In June, President Gabriel Boric announced that the government is seeking to “improve,” through new regulations, the law enacted in 2017, which allows access to voluntary termination of pregnancy on three grounds.
However, as Minister Orellana explained, “the regulation has taken longer than I would have expected, among others due to a large number of people registered against it, for example also from the Bishoprics of the Chilean Church.”
“I am not interested in entering into a debate with the Catholic Church on this. I don’t think it’s the only voice, I think there have been many more voices that have expressed themselves these days, and not just that of the Church, and I think it would be good, in a democratic debate, for us to take them all,” he indicated.
After the exchange, the senator and president of the Socialist Party (PS), Paulina Vodanovic, distanced herself from Minister Orellana’s statements, considering that “they are not the terms to refer to who has recently been named cardinal, who by the way has right to give an opinion”, states The Third.
“I am personally Catholic and it seems to me that it is logical that the Catholic Church has a position and can express it,” she stated, urging respect.
Yovana Ahumada, deputy of the Social Christian Party, provided a political reading of the postponement of the project: “It is evident that the government does not have the political support to move forward with this project, which reinforces that it only raised it as a smokescreen.” , considered, according to Regional Radios.
After the public nature of the debate, Cardinal Chomali clarified to Future Radio: “I have nothing as a prince, but a priest who seeks to serve the community.”
“What the minister said was very well thought out, but it didn’t keep me awake,” he said.
Juliet Villar
I am a journalist, with a degree in communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non-governmental organizations. Since 2016 I have been dedicated to Catholic journalism, first at the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as ACI Prensa correspondent for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.