Arson attacks strike churches across Chile as Pope Francis visits indigenous Mapuche homeland
His three-day visit has so far been overshadowed by protests, following a report outlining the depth of sexual abuse in the local church
Unknown attackers set fire to Catholic churches and three helicopters belonging to forestry companies as Pope Francis set off for his visit to the indigenous Mapuche homeland of Araucania in Chile, police said on Wednesday.
The dawn attacks and an ambush on police were carried out to “cause disorder or disturbance of the public order” during the pope’s visit to the central city of Temuco, said police chief Bruno Villalobos.
Francis’s visit – his first to Chile as pope – has so far been overshadowed by protests, following a report outlining the depth of sexual abuse in the local church, and his appointment of a bishop who many believe covered up the country’s most prominent sex abuse scandal.
The visiting pontiff headed to the heart of Chile’s centuries-old conflict with indigenous peoples to celebrate Mass on contested land that was also used as a detention and torture facility during the country’s bloody military dictatorship.
The Maquehue Air Base in Temuco, where the Mass would be held, was built on land taken from the indigenous Mapuche in the early 20th century. It was also used as a detention centre during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, making it a place steeped in painful history.
