Chile: Contemporary Affairs

The Catholic Church wields significant power in the Chilean political scene, though the cooperation of some of the Church's leadership with the Pinochet regime during the 1970s has led some on the political left to mistrust the Church’s influence. In January 2010, conservative billionaire Sebastián Piñera, who was supported by many former Pinochet officials, became the first right-of-center politician to win the Chilean presidency in decades. In July 2010, the Chilean Catholic Church presented Piñera with a proposal for a blanket pardon of ex-military leaders, some of whom were convicted of human rights abuses during the Pinochet era. In a surprise rebuke of his Catholic-conservative base, Piñera rejected the Church’s proposal, opting to consider pardons on a case-by-case basis. Piñera has drawn criticism from conservative Catholics for his announcement in January 2010 of plans to bestow more legal rights to gay and lesbian couples. He also vowed, however, to keep abortion illegal, despite calls from the United Nations for Chile to soften its ban on abortion, which contains some of the strictest provisions in the world. In September 2010, both Catholic and Evangelical clergy became involved in mediating disputes between Chile’s indigenous Mapuche population and the government. Dozens of Mapuche activists have been imprisoned by the Chilean government following violent protests against government encroachment on tribal lands. Church-government relations have generally stabilized in recent years, though there was renewed controversy in 2012 over the allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by a bishop.