Sir, - Your edition of Monday October 19th had a report on the Chilean dictator, General Pinochet, which says: "He sought and found his most loyal support among conservative Catholic clergy." This is untrue and gives a completely false impression of the role played by the Catholic Church, its communities, religious and bishops during the dictatorship of Pinochet.
I lived and worked in Chile from March 1963 until July 1997.
A few examples to illustrate: 1. The army coup took place on Tuesday September 11th 1973. Five days later, on Sunday September 16th, in all the churches in the Archdiocese of Santiago (the capital) a letter from the bishop, Cardinal Silva, was read out which called for respect for human rights, for proper legal processes to be maintained and for a speedy return to democracy.
2. The Church opened several centres where foreign nationals, who were refugees from dictatorships in their own countries, were received, protected and later taken safely out of the country. Priests and sisters received and hid, in their houses and convents, thousands of Chileans who were in grave danger, and smuggled them into friendly foreign embassies. In our house in Santiago, our cook was shot dead when the house was assaulted by the secret police. During that raid, Dr Sheila Cassidy, a UK citizen, was arrested and later tortured.
3. On another level, the Church set up "La Vicaria de Solidaridad" (Vicariate of Solidarity - later a Polish movement adopted the same name). This functioned in the offices of the diocese. It provided legal, medical, personal and, at times, material support to persecuted people and groups at a time that individual lawyers, doctors and judges were afraid to have anything to do with them. This Vicariate and individual parishes gave room and support to different groups who could not have come together otherwise e.g. the relatives of those "disappeared" by the secret police.
Far from being "the most loyal support" for Pinochet, the Church was the greatest obstacle in his path. For the 17 years of dictatorship, it was the most effective and consistent body that, by word and action, worked for the restoration of democracy and human rights. - Yours, etc., Fr Patrick Egan,
St Columban's, P}Dalgan Park,
Navan.