A Voice for the Dejected Silent – Folha de S. Paulo, April 28, 1974

by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

I intended to change the subject in today’s article. I practice anticommunist Catholic resistance with a clear conscience and firm resolve, yet with an immensely heavy heart. For this reason, I do not want to give it more than the strictly indispensable attention.

However, I am compelled to return to the subject because I consider the recent statement by the Chilean Bishops’ Conference (CEC), released by Cardinal Silva Henriquez, Archbishop of Santiago, to be highly polluting, a pollution that extends to all countries where it is published. Therefore, it has reached Brazil, and it is my duty to resist this pollution, which I do by setting the record straight.

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Obviously, I can only approve of the Chilean hierarchy’s opposition to the abuses occurring, as stated in its declaration: arbitrary arrests, interrogations accompanied by physical and moral torture, limitations on the rights of defense, and inequality in convictions. However, I am shocked that during Fidel Castro’s visit to Allende, the Chilean cardinal showed obvious sympathy for the tyrant, even though, in terms of human rights, the latter has notoriously gone far beyond any possible excesses by the police authorities of the current Chilean government.

The inevitable question arises from the facts: why this double standard? Why such harsh severity toward an anticommunist government, and such a blind eye toward the communist tyrant?

Cardinal Silva Henriquez’s friends sought to justify his unusual behavior toward Fidel Castro by arguing that the Church could achieve practical results in communist Cuba not through severity but through gentleness. In anticommunist Chile, the bishops’ approach is the exact opposite.

This makes clear that Cardinal Silva Henriquez and the CEC practice the policy expressed in the detestable motto “have no enemies on the left,” which is equivalent to treating those on the right as enemies. It leads to the conclusion that the Chilean cardinal and those bishops who follow him serve as an auxiliary line for the Communist Party.

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Let us gloss over the fact that Allende and his minions unquestionably committed the acts of violence that Cardinal Silva Henriquez and the CEC attribute to the current Chilean government, even though the Marxist president was not the target of a resounding statement like the one we are discussing today.

As far as human rights are concerned, I emphasize that victims of the police are not the only ones who have them. By denying fundamental human rights, such as private property and free enterprise, Allende morally and materially tortured an entire population of ten million people, leading them to tyranny and misery. The Chilean bishops said nothing of weight or usefulness against this. Cardinal Silva Henriquez supported Allende until the end and continues to support his followers, as the TFP showed in its recent statement.

Why did His Eminence and their excellencies, the Chilean bishops, show such concern for the (real or imagined) victims of the anticommunist police while displaying resounding and solemn indifference to the violation of the human rights of an entire people?

It would seem that human rights violations are considered harmful only when the victims are communists or suspected of communism. This brings to mind Cardinal Casaroli, secretary of the Holy See’s Council for Public Affairs, who said that Cuban Catholics are perfectly happy.

While all this is sad, I’ve left the saddest part for last. In delivering this regrettable statement to the press, Cardinal Silva Henriquez reported that he had received a long telegram from the Vatican urging the episcopate to work for reconciliation among Chileans. This means the Chilean Bishops’ Conference’s unfortunate stand is the result of instructions from the Holy See. If so, may these words serve as a voice for so many distinguished Catholics who remain in silent dejection.