Santiago, Chile, Aug 11, 2009 / 17:51 pm
Bishop Gonzalo Duarte Garcia of Valparaiso expressed his sorrow this week over the killing of five year-old Francisca Silva but warned that the death penalty many people are calling for is not an answer to the horror of such a crime. Instead, he called for reflection on the kind of society that is being formed in the country.
“The tragic death of Francisca Silvia and everything related to her wake and funeral has been the most painful thing I have experienced in my 42 years as a priest. As never before I have felt the powerlessness of the human being in the face of extreme moral pain and the impossibility of speaking words of comfort,” the bishop said, recalling the Mass for Francisca, a girl who as kidnapped, raped and murdered by her neighbor.