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Raúl Silva Henríquez SDB (27 September 1907 – 9 April 1999) was a
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
an prelate of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, a
cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
from 1962. He served as Archbishop of
Santiago de Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital city, capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's Chilean Central Valley, central valley and is the center ...
from 1961 to 1983 and as Bishop of
Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...
from 1959 to 1961. Both as Archbishop and in retirement, he was an advocate for social justice and democracy and a forthright vocal critic of the military dictatorship of
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...
—"a constant thorn in the Government's side".


Biography

Born in
Talca Talca () is a city and commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile). As of the 2012 census, the city had a population of 201,142. The city is an important ...
, Silva Henríquez was the sixteenth of nineteen children. His father, Ricardo Silva Silva, was a farmer and industrialist of Portuguese descent, and his mother was Mercedes Henríquez Encina. After studying at the Catholic University of Chile where he obtained his doctorate in law, Silva joined the Salesians of Don Bosco on 28 January 1930. He studied at the Salesian Pontifical University in
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
and earned a doctorate in
theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
and in
canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...
. He was
ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...
to the priesthood in Turin on 3 July 1938. He taught in Chile from 1939 to 1945 and then became director of the Salesian College La Cisterna. From 1951 to 1959 he headed Caritas Chile while also serving as director as Salesian theological studies. On 24 October 1959,
Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...
named Silva
Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
of
Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...
. He received his episcopal consecration on 29 November from Archbishop Opilio Rossi, with Archbishop Emilio Tagle Covarrubias and Bishop Vladimiro Boric Crnosija SDB, as
co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...
. He was named Archbishop of Santiago on 14 May 1961. Pope John made him
Cardinal-Priest A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. ...
of S. Bernardo alle Terme at the
consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistor ...
of 19 March 1962. He was on good terms with industry leaders and government officials, including both future dictator
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...
and the incoming President
Salvador Allende Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until Death of Salvador Allende, his death in 1973 Chilean coup d'état, 1973. As a ...
, whose Marxist views he opposed but did not find alarming because Allende, he said, "was always prepared to talk". He once said: "There are more of the Gospel's values in socialism than there are in capitalism." In Santiago he quickly established his reputation as an advocate of far-reaching and immediate social reform. He distributed land on large estates owned by the Church to the peasants who worked on them peasants, saying that "These lands have served God for a long time, but I believe that the needs of the workers on these lands are greater." After the first meeting between Church and Freemasonry which had been held on 11 April 1969 at the convent of the Divine Master in Ariccia, he was the protagonist of a series of public handshakes between high prelates of the Roman Catholic Church and the heads of
Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
. When Fidel Castro visited Chile in 1972, Silva gave him 10,000 Bibles to distribute in Cuba. Silva attended the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
from 1962 to 1965. In October 1964, he joined the prelates who signed a petition asking Pope Paul VI to support the council's drafts of declarations on the Church's attitude toward the Jews and on religious liberty and to resist conservative attempts to weaken them. He was one of the cardinal electors in the 1963 papal conclave, which elected
Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...
. He participated in the conclaves of
August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, August ...
and October 1978, which elected Popes John Paul I and
John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...
respectively. He was an outspoken opponent of General
Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...
, the military ruler who came to power in a 1973 coup and ruled until 1990, though he initially imagined he could use his friendship with Pinochet to moderate his policies. He eventually became the regime's chief critic. In April 1974, on behalf of Chile's bishops, he issued a statement denouncing the regime for political persecution and economic policies that burdened the poor, calling for ideological reconciliation. He called for the restoration of democracy, aid victims of political persecution in finding employment, and provided legal assistance to political prisoners. He compared Pinochet's oppression of the Church to that experienced by the early Christians at the hands of the Roman Emperors. In the absence of political opposition that had been silenced, imprisoned or exile, the church under his leadership became "the effective resistance to the regime". When the government shut down an ecumenical group fostering social conciliation that Silva founded, Silva re-established it the next day as the
Vicariate of Solidarity The Vicariate of Solidarity () was a human rights organization in Chile during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. A Catholic organisation, it was created by Pope Paul VI at the request of cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez to replace the ...
, headquartered inside the cathedral in Santiago. When the government adopted a conciliatory tone and allowed Silva to visit political prisoners, he collected information on human rights abuses and government-sponsored torture that served as the basis for a report after Pinochet fell from power that listed more than 3,000 Chileans who were killed in prison or disappeared. Government supporters threatened him by desecrating his parents' grave and shooting at his house. Silva is believed to have played a key role in persuading the governments of Chile and Argentina to allow Pope John Paul II to mediate their border dispute and avoid war in 1978.
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...
accepted his resignation as Archbishop of Santiago on 3 May 1983, after twenty-one years of service. Pinochet's wife Lucía Hiriart greeted his retirement with the words "''¡Al fin Dios nos ha escuchado!''" (At last God has heard us!"). When Chilean Church officials criticized the Pinochet regime the next month, it defended dissent and called for reconciliation, but dropped Silva's direct criticism of the government and his calls for democracy. In 1986, when U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who sponsored a 1976 amendment banning military assistance to Chile and a critic of the Chilean government, visited Chile. Silva met with Kennedy while his successor as archbishop refused to. In December 1978, the Vicariate for Solidaity was awarded the
United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights The United Nations Prizes in the Field of Human Rights were instituted by United Nations General Assembly in 1966. They are intended to "honour and commend people and organizations which have made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and pr ...
. The Bruno Kreisky Prize for Services to Human Rights in 1984. He founded the Academy of Christian Humanism in 1988, an outgrowth of his effort beginning in 1975 to bring intellectuals together to discuss politics, society, economy and culture in Chile. Silva suffered from Alzheimer's disease near the end of his life and died of a heart attack at a Salesian retirement house in La Florida, at age 91, and was buried in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Santiago. His death left Franz Cardinal König as the only surviving cardinal elevated by John XXIII. The government of Chile declared five days of national mourning after his death and President Eduardo Frei said Silva's death was "a deep pain for the entire nation". ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' headlined his obituary: "Pinochet's turbulent priest" and crowds at his funeral chanted "''Raul, amigo, el pueblo esta contigo''" (Raul, friend, the people are with you).


Selected writings

* ''El Cardenal Raúl Silva Henríquez nos dijo'', 2 volumes (Editorial Tiberíades, 2002)


References

;Additional sources * *


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silva Henriquez, Raul 1907 births 1999 deaths Chilean cardinals 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Chile People from Talca Chilean people of Portuguese descent Participants in the Second Vatican Council Roman Catholic archbishops of Santiago de Chile Cardinals created by Pope John XXIII Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni Salesian Pontifical University alumni Roman Catholic bishops of Valparaíso Salesian cardinals