AMERICA/CHILE - The risk of getting used to violence without asking ourselves "what kind of society are we building?"

Tuesday, 28 March 2023 violence   criminality   local churches  

Chillàn (Agenzia Fides) - "We all want to live in a safer and more fraternal nation, but I would like to invite you to ask us a few questions: why is the world of crime and drug trafficking born and growing among us? Why has violence grown in society? Why is our coexistence at all levels more aggressive? Why are our ties more deteriorated? Why do we cross the boundaries so easily" These are the questions raised by the Bishop of Chillán, Monsignor Sergio Pérez de Arce, during the mass he presided over yesterday, in the Metropolitan Cathedral, in honor of Second Sergeant of the Carabineros Rita Olivares Raio, who died on the morning of Sunday, March 26, hit by a shot in the head while chasing some thieves in the town of Quilpué. She was the last of the 1,232 fallen Carabineros. According to information released by the Episcopal Conference, the ritual was attended by various authorities from the region, police officers, the presidential delegate, parliamentarians and mayors from the region.
various regional authorities, the "These are questions we must ask ourselves - continued the Bishop - because something is happening to us as a society, there is something sick among us. I think it has to do with our individualism, love of money, lack of appreciation for life, forgetting God and other essential values". Sergeant Rita Olivares Raio was 43 years old, she was the mother of two teenage children. She had joined the Carabineros on May 16, 2002 and in 21 years she had served in various places, demonstrating "a high sense of responsibility and dedication to service, dedication, commitment and professionalism".
Expressing everyone's sorrow "because every death is always painful and even more so when it is violent", the Bishop offered his condolences to family members and police officers, thanking them for the service to the country. . “It hurts us that violence, death, crime become habitual, because our coexistence is wounded and damaged - he continued -. But we must get up, move forward in search of a better, more fraternal society. Every time there is a murder of a police officer, the reactions are similar. There is condemnation from the authorities and social leaders and that is very positive. There are also mutual political criticisms, sometimes trying to gain some small political advantage. Social networks are inflamed. It's okay when it's the result of helplessness, anger and bewilderment caused by violence. We are glad that Parliament is rushing to pass laws that seem necessary to fight crime more vigorously."
The Bishop of Iquique, Isauro Covili Linfati, OFM, has also issued a statement after the murder of Rita Olivares Raio, in which he stresses that "thefts, assaults, murders, fraud, organized crime, speak of violence and of a violent system, of injustice, of lack of peace”. The bishop added that the situation of violence and crime is complex and its causes are diverse and changing, but what is most worrying is that a kind of criminal culture of all kinds is being imposed in society or has been imposed and we are getting used to it". For this reason, the bishop calls for a public debate carried out in grassroots social organizations, as well as in Christian communities, on what kind of society we are building. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 28/3/2023)


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