Chilean Bishop Calls for Civil Disobedience Over Mass Restrictions

Crux ^ | 3/17/21 | Ines San Martin

[marshmallow]

ROME – A Chilean bishop is urging civil disobedience after several regions of the country went into lockdown again to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, imposing heavy restrictions on the celebration of religious ceremonies.

“It’s true that the law prevents us from celebrating our Eucharist in peace, but we believe that when a law is unjust and when it goes against conscience, one can disobey it, and I say this as a bishop and as the person in charge of the Catholic Church of Magallanes,” said Bishop Bernardo Bastres, who leads the southernmost, largest, and second least populated region of Chile.

Chile’s health minister, Enrique Paris, answered the bishop’s demands during a press conference held Monday, the same day Bastres issued his appeal: “It’s not good for a bishop to call for non-compliance with health standards… so I think he must review what we have ruled.”

Chile has already vaccinated 4.7 million people out of 19 million citizens. By June 30, it’s expected 15 million people will receive a vaccination. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the country has had almost 900,000 cases, with over 21,700 deaths.

Last week the government decided to lockdown Santiago, the country’s capital, and the surrounding metropolitan area during the weekends, to try to reduce the contagion curve. But then the government decided to add 20 other cities to the mandatory lockdown list.

During his homily on Sunday, Bastres criticized the measure, urging the faithful to break the law. The following day he released a statement arguing that his words needed to be put within the context of the Magallanes region, located 1,865 miles from Santiago.

[livius]

Good for him.