ABSTRACT
Chile has been one of the epicenters of the global sexual abuse crisis within the Catholic Church. In Chile, the three factors that have accelerated and deepened this crisis are present. Although the estimated magnitude of the abuses is within the figures found in other parts of the world (about 4% of priests with complaints of sexual abuse of minors in the last 50 years), the complaints have unusually reached priests of high prestige and social influence. On the other hand, the response offered by religious authorities has been particularly unfortunate, to such an extent that Pope Francis received the resignation of the entire episcopal body after problems during his visit to the country. According to the comparative data, the impact of the trust crisis in the Catholic Church, as well as the population’s Catholic identification and temple attendance, has been one of the most pronounced in the world. This chapter reviews these three dimensions of the sexual abuse crisis in the Chilean Church following the results of a report from the Commission for the Analysis of the Crisis of the Catholic Church in Chile prepared by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in 2020. Supplementary material and more recent information have also been incorporated into this analysis.
