Chilean president signs gender identity law

Gabriel Boric, who won the 2021 Chilean presidential election, speaks after a candidates’ debate, Oct. 10, 2021. / Mediabanco Agencia via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Santiago, Chile, Dec 20, 2021 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

José Antonio Kast, a lawyer and pro-life Catholic politician, conceded defeat Dec. 19 to leftist candidate Gabriel Boric, a proponent of elective abortion, in Chile’s runoff presidential election.

“I just spoke with Gabriel Boric and congratulated him on his great victory. As of today he is the President-elect of Chile and deserves all our respect and constructive collaboration. Chile is always first,” Kast, of the Christian Social Front, wrote on Twitter.

With 98.76% of the votes counted, Boric led with 55.85% compared to 44.15% for Kast, a difference of almost 11 points.

During his campaign, Kast, 55, proposed different strategies to protect life from conception to natural death, to reinforce the preferential right of parents to educate their children, and to recognize the culture and identity of indigenous people.

In his campaign, Boric, of the Apruebo Dignidad alliance, promised to incorporate a comprehensive feminist perspective, to implement such policies as “legal, free and safe abortion on demand,” and changes to the gender identity law.

Boric is 35 years old, the minimum age to run for president. He is single and studied law at the University of Chile, but did not receive a degree.

As president of the Student Center of the Faculty of Law, he led the takeover of one of the university buildings to demand the departure of the dean at that time.

In 2011, he became spokesman for the Chilean Student Confederation during student protests in which thousands of young people took to the streets demanding educational reforms.

Boric is in his second term as a representative in the Chamber of Deputies and during  the civil unrest of 2019 he signed the “Agreement for Peace” to accept the demands of citizens regarding the lack of public policies for a more decent life, which led to the Constitutional Convention now working on a new constitution.

Before the presidential election, the Standing Committee of the Chilean Bishops’ Conference issued a statement Dec. 16 offering their prayers for whomever would be the next president, calling on him to “govern for all Chileans, seeking paths of dialogue, agreement, justice and fraternity.”

The Standing Committee called on both candidates to “honor democratic values, accept the decision of the citizens and to work together from their place, to build a political community whose soul is social charity.” 

“As Christmas approaches, we invite you to pray for the unity of our country, contemplating God with us who assumes our human condition so we may live as brothers. May the song that resounds these days: ‘Glory to God in heaven and on earth peace to the men loved by Him’ encourage us in the challenge of being peacemakers” the Standing Committee concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Pope Francis offers a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the repose of the souls of cardinals and bishops who died the previous year. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Jun 1, 2024 / 07:08 am (CNA).

Cardinal Kelvin Edward Felix died in his home on the island nation of St. Lucia Thursday, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, at the age of 91.

The Dominican cardinal led the Archdiocese of Castries in St. Lucia from 1981 until his retirement in 2008. In 2014, in his first-ever consistory, Pope Francis made Felix a cardinal, the first from the Antilles.

After his retirement, Felix lived on the island nation of Dominica, where he assisted the local Church.

The Archdiocese of Castries said the retired archbishop moved to the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of the Assumption on St. Lucia in 2023 to receive medical care for health problems which required him to withdraw from most public functions.

“Frail from age and medical complications he eventually succumbed after days of constant prayer for the Church and for vocations to the priesthood and religious life,” the archdiocese said in a May 31 press release.

Felix’s funeral will be held at the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Castries, on June 12. According to the Archdiocese of Castries, the cardinal’s wish was to be buried on the grounds of the cathedral of Dominica.

Pope Francis sent his condolences to the Catholics of the West Indies on Saturday, recalling Felix’s dedication to the education of young people and his contribution to the Church throughout the Caribbean.

Felix studied for the priesthood at seminaries in Dominica and Trinidad before being ordained a priest on April 8, 1956 for the Diocese of Roseau.

He later continued his education, receiving a diploma in adult education from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, and a master’s degree in sociology and anthropology from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

From 1967-1970, the priest studied sociology at the University of Bradford in England, while serving the Caribbean community of the West Yorkshire region. His experience with the difficult economic conditions of his flock in Bradford led him to start the Bradford Credit Union, which still serves Antillean immigrants in the United Kingdom today. He received the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth II.

In the Caribbean, Felix taught at the regional seminary and was principal of St. Mary’s Academy in Dominica. He served as associate general secretary of the Caribbean Conference of Church and later as its president.

He was appointed metropolitan archbishop of the province of Castries by Pope John Paul II in 1981, and was president of the Antilles bishops conference for six years from 1991-1997.

As archbishop, Felix promoted the formation of priests, religious, and lay leaders, and was in charge of the organization of Pope John Paul II’s visit to St. Lucia in 1986.

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Mexican presidential candidates Xóchitl Gálvez y Claudia Sheinbaum met separately with Pope Francis. / Crédit: Xóchitl Gálvez, Claudia Sheinbaum

ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 16, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
Xóchitl Gálvez Ruiz and Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, w… […]