Catholic bishops offer guidance on Chile’s new constitution

Catholic bishops in Chile want the draft of the country’s new constitution to be reviewed in light of the Social Doctrine of the Church.

The constitution "is a proposal that makes us face our future, with the challenge of discerning whether or not the text offered provides us with an adequate social and legal framework, to build the peace, solidarity and justice in our country,’ said the Chilean bishops who met from July 18 – 22.

It should “allow the demands of citizens, especially the most vulnerable, to be channeled", they said.

Chile held a referendum in October 2020, which resulted in favor of carrying out a constitutional reform, approved by nearly eight out of ten votes, in which around 78 percent of eligible voters participated.

Elections were then held to choose constituents to rewrite and replace the constitution that was drafted in 1980 under strongman president Augusto Pinochet, and which critics have blamed for long-standing socioeconomic inequalities in the South American nation.

Now the new text has been submitted to President Gabriel Boric who has called for a referendum on September 4 to adopt or reject the constitution, making voting in the deeply polarized country of 19 million people will be obligatory. 

The new constitution includes social and ecological factors, a new national healthcare system and enshrines the rights of Chile's indigenous peoples.

Catholic bishops are asking for "informed discernment and vote in conscience always putting the common good of the country first" as recent public debates do not reveal a broad consensus on the proposed constitution. 

"A future in which everyone finds a place in the common home"

It is not a question of proposing technical solutions, but of uniting the human family in the search for sustainable and integral development, according to the Social Doctrine of the Church, which is based on essential principles and values, the Catholic bishops said in their document.

"The first of these principles is the dignity of the human person, followed by others such as the common good, subsidiarity and solidarity, in addition to other derived principles and values such as truth, freedom, justice, peace and charity", they said. 

"We appreciate the constitutional text in its proposal on social rights, the environment and the recognition of indigenous peoples,” they said.

However, the bishops had several objections.

“We make a negative assessment of the norms that allow the interruption of pregnancy, those that leave open the possibility of euthanasia, those that disfigure the concept of the family, those that … pose some limitations on the right to education and religious freedom. We consider the introduction of abortion to be particularly serious, which the text of the constitutional proposal calls the 'right to voluntary interruption of pregnancy'." 

They pointed out that it is important that "there is a debate not only about a text and the best rules, but about how we continue seeking an increasingly humane and comprehensive development for all".

The bishops said it is essential to grow in dialogue and social friendship, forging a culture of encounter.

"Democracy, its various institutions and political and social organizations, will always be the best way to address our legitimate differences, but we must make an even greater effort to make it a democracy animated by the dynamism of encounter and dialogue, and based on the sacred respect for human dignity… to project ourselves into a future in which everyone finds a place in the common home", they said.