Chile’s Electoral “Conservatism”: A Masked Concession to Naturalism
The Catholic News Agency portal (December 15, 2025) reports José Antonio Kast’s victory over Communist Party candidate Jeannette Jara in Chile’s presidential runoff. Kast, described as a “practicing Catholic” affiliated with the Schönstatt movement, won 58% of votes campaigning on law enforcement and migration control. The Chilean bishops’ conference issued generic congratulations urging “dialogue” while expressing concern about migrant treatment. Kast advocates life “from conception” but prioritizes security over moral issues, proposing mass deportations of 336,000 irregular migrants within 100 days—a policy criticized by Concepción’s Archbishop Sergio Pérez de Arce. The article frames this as a victory over leftist governance but reveals profound theological compromises.
The Illusion of Catholic Victory in a Secularist Framework
Kast’s alleged “conservatism” operates entirely within the saeculum—the worldly paradigm condemned by Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors (1864). His platform reduces governance to policing borders and suppressing crime while treating abortion as secondary. This inversion of priorities contradicts Pius XI’s encyclical Quas Primas (1925): “Rulers of states…must fulfill this duty themselves and with their people, if they wish to maintain their authority inviolate and contribute to the increase of their homeland’s happiness.”
The bishops’ statement exemplifies conciliar-era weakness. While noting Kast’s mandate to address “security” and “migration,” they substitute Catholic social doctrine with humanitarian platitudes: “rebuilding social trust” and “respect.” Their silence on Jara’s Communist affiliation constitutes culpable omission. Pius XI’s Divini Redemptoris (1937) mandated: “Communism is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever.”
Migratory “Crisis” and the Eclipse of Catholic Charity
Kast’s “countdown” deportation plan—forcing migrants to “contribute to the cost of their return ticket”—violates multiple principles:
“If someone doesn’t leave voluntarily and we have to find them and deport them, they will never be allowed to enter Chilean territory again.”
This contradicts Pius XII’s teaching that nations must receive migrants “when grave reasons…do not forbid” (Exsul Familia, 1952). Archbishop Pérez de Arce rightly notes the policy’s inhumanity but frames it bureaucratically (“irregular situation”) rather than invoking Caritas Christi. The proper response is outlined in Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum (1891): “The wealthy must religiously refrain from cutting down the workmen’s earnings, whether by force, by fraud, or by usurious dealing.”
Schönstatt Affiliation: No Guarantee of Orthodoxy
The article notes Kast’s membership in the Schönstatt movement—founded in 1914 and later compromised by theological deviations. While not intrinsically problematic, Schönstatt’s post-conciliar trajectory mirrors broader modernist decay. Pius X’s Pascendi Dominici Gregis (1907) warned of movements valuing “sentiment” over doctrine: “The religious sense, which through the agency of vital immanence emerges from the lurking places of the subconsciousness, is the germ of all religion.” Kast’s campaign slogan—”living without fear”—prioritizes emotional security over lex divina.
The Bishops’ Failure to Defend Christ’s Social Kingship
Chilean bishops urge Kast toward “clarity, generosity, and profound commitment to the common good” yet avoid demanding public submission to Christ the King. Their statement exemplifies the naturalism condemned in Pius IX’s Syllabus (Proposition 39): “The State, as being the origin and source of all rights, is endowed with a certain right not circumscribed by any limits.”
Nowhere do the bishops cite Pius XI’s mandate: “When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony” (Quas Primas). Their neutered “concern” about migrants lacks the doctrinal force of Pius XII’s condemnation of nationalism: “He who would have the star of peace shine out…must give to peoples…the conviction that supremacy is bound up with the obligatory force of international law” (1944 Christmas Message).
The Fatal Concession: Abortion as Secondary Agenda
Most gravely, Kast’s campaign “set aside the ‘values agenda’ to focus on crime”—treating abortion as negotiable. This violates the Church’s perennial teaching that protecting innocent life precedes all temporal concerns. As Pius XII declared: “The life of an innocent person is an end in itself…No public authority can establish or permit any act that directly threatens this life” (Address to Midwives, 1951).
The bishops’ silence on this strategic abdication constitutes cooperatio in malo. They praise Kast’s pro-life rhetoric while ignoring his de-prioritization of abolition—precisely the “hypocritical simulation” condemned by St. Pius X: “They draw a distinction between the articles of faith…the better to insinuate their ideas” (Lamentabili Sane, 1907).
Conclusion: Naturalism Dressed as Tradition
Kast’s victory represents not Catholic restoration but right-wing modernism—accepting secularism’s framework while promising “order.” True Catholic statesmen would demand Chile’s consecration to Christ the King, abolition of abortion without exception, and migrant policies founded on Caritas, not deportation quotas. Until pseudo-conservatives abandon the liberal playbook, their “triumphs” remain Satan’s counterfeits. As St. Pius X warned: “The enemy…is to be found in the very bosom of the Church” (Pascendi). Chile’s electoral shift changes players but perpetuates the apostasy—made worse by bishops who normalize it.
Source:
Chile elects conservative for president, defeating Communist Party opponent (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 15.12.2025