Santiago, Chile, May 30, 2019 / 13:19 pm
Fr. Carlos Eugenio Irarrázaval Errazuriz, who was appointed auxiliary bishop of Santiago this month, has apologized to the Jewish community after having made some controversial statements.
Fr. Irarrázaval, a priest of the Archdiocese of Santiago, was appointed an auxiliary bishop of the same local Church May 22. In an interview with CNN Chile the following day, when asked about the role of women in the Church, he said that "we all have to ensure that they can do what they may want to do. Obviously, Jesus Christ marked out for us certain guidelines, and if we want to be the Church of Jesus Christ, we have to be faithful to Jesus Christ."
"Jewish culture is a male dominated culture to this day," he continued. "If you see a Jew walking down the street, the woman goes ten steps behind. But Jesus Christ breaks with that pattern. Jesus Christ converses with women, converses with the adulteress, with the Samaritan woman. Jesus Christ let women care for him."
"It is true that at the Last Supper there was no woman seated at the table, and we also have to respect that. Jesus Christ made choices and he didn't do it ideologically," he said.