A fire, which was controlled by the Firefighters of Viña del Mar, left structural damage to a historic Carmelite Church in that well -known Chilean city.
“With regret we reported that today (yesterday), Saturday, September 20, there was a fire in the residence of the Carmelite parents of Viña del Mar, located in 5 north, corner Avenida Libertad” in the center of the city, the delegation for the communications of the Diocese of Valparaíso reported in a communication.
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“The incident, originated before noon due to the overheating of an electrical apparatus, caused structural damage to the place,” says the text, specifying that “thank God, both workers and religious who reside there are found without injuries or personal damage.”
Felipe Castillo, captain of the first police station of Viña del Mar, reported 24 hours that after the call for “personal and emergency” personnel “evacuated” around 15 people who were inside the church, people who worked and the parish priests. “
The diocesan statement concludes by thanking the rapid action of firefighters and the support samples of the community “towards the Carmelite parents in this difficult time.”
For their part, the Carmelitas of Viña del Mar pointed out in a communication That the emblematic “temple will remain closed until new notice, although the temple did not have major damage to the fire, if its electrical system was damaged.”
“Regarding the masses, they will be informed from when and where they will be carried out. At the moment the masses of Sunday 21 (today) are suspended,” they add and thank the concern of all the faithful.
The historic Carmelite Church of Viña del Mar
The Church of the Carmelites is a Gothic style temple, originally built in 1905 and destroyed by an earthquake in 1906. In 1926 the rebuilt church was inaugurated, which became parish in 1966, under the invocation of our Blessed Mother of Carmen.
The Church was affected again by two earthquakes that occurred in 1985 and 2010, which made the temple close until the repairs were completed the same year 2010.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I am husband since 2008. With my wife we have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before birth. Since I joined ACI Press in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Colonia, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the family’s synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Sinodality, in 2023. I follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers the persecution of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as the ecclesial news in the region.