President of Chilean bishops: Church in region needs to examine conscience

Santiago, Chile, Aug 8, 2007 / 08:55 am

The president of the Bishops’ Conference of Chile, Bishop Alejandro Goic, said during a press conference this week that the Catholic Church in Latin America needs to sincerely examine its conscience in order to determine why Catholics are not on the forefront of social justice reform.

In an interview with the Italian news agency ANSA, Bishop Goic recalled the discourse of Pope Benedict XVI upon inaugurating the V General Conference of the Latin American Bishops, in which he pointed out “the injustices of the continent that cry out to heaven and cause us pain, as this is a majority Catholic country.”

“I think we have an extraordinary treasure in the Compendium of the Social Teachings of the Church, which gives us the entire social dimension of the Christian faith,” Bishop Goic said.  He stressed that the Compendium could be appreciated by Catholics and even by all people of good faith “who consider these ideas to be useful in building a more just and humane society.”

He reminded Catholics that not only the clergy, but all the baptized have the task of uniting faith and daily life and avoiding the “dichotomy of faith from some things and daily life for others.”

Asked about the Church’s view of modern-day economics, Bishop Goic responded, “We live in a global society, and John Paul II clearly said we must also globalize solidarity.”  He said that while the prevailing economic model in today’s world does not completely live up to this, “it is the one that exists and therefore we need to humanize it.”