The violence that as seized Chile is linked to complex issues of history, economics and bitter political divisions.
As you would expect, American news operations have been busy covering other stories. I get that.
Meanwhile, the role of the Catholic Church in the politics of Chile is complicated and, as you would expect, decades of arguments about clergy sexual abuse and related topics has not helped the situation. I get that, too.
But I would like to note that activists/reformers/rioters — pick your label — have started burning Catholic churches, including holy objects stripped from altars. This is the kind of smartphone-video story that tends to make news, if only because the images are so striking.
I have been following these events on Twitter and, after several days of doing that, I decided to check and see what kind of mainstream news coverage these hellish scenes have received.
The answer: Next to none. In fact, it would appear that this is a “conservative news story,” which apparently means that attacks on Catholic churches in Chile is only of interest to political conservatives. I find this very depressing. Here is the top of a recent report from the ultra-conservative ChurchMilitant.com:
Vandals stormed La Asuncion Church in Santiago and took out pews and chairs to add to a burning barricade. They also took statues and images of Jesus from the church as well as statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints to be burned in the fire.
This occurred amid weeks of protests in the capital. Protests began in response to a recent raise in subway fares in Santiago. But demonstrators' complaints grew to include income inequality, low wages and Chile's high cost of living.
The nearby headquarters of Pedro de Valdivia University was also looted on Friday. …
The bishops conference of Chile condemned the attack on La Asuncion Church, saying in a statement, "An attack on temples and places of prayer, without any respect for God or for those who believe in Him, causes us pain."
You can see some of the inevitable political labels in this material from LifeSiteNews, another conservative media source.
… A group of masked protesters dressed in black and resembling “antifa” anarchists in the United States broke into the Assumption of Mary parish church, stealing pews, confessionals, and religious statues to form barricades in their resistance to police. Much of the religious statuary was smashed and painted over with anti-Catholic graffiti. The historic church dates to 1876. Some of the church goods were used to build a bonfire in nearby Plaza Italia. …
Amateur video recorded the vandals removing a statue of the Virgin Mary, along with other sacred objects, from the church. The tabernacle was damaged and smeared with the word “rapists.” Photos taken at the scene showed that the door of the tabernacle was left open. Also, the words “burn the church” were spray-painted nearby on an interior wall. The crucifix was hauled out of the church, broken, and put on display in the street.
In terms of secular newsrooms, The Daily Mail has covered this highly symbolic story: “Demonstrators loot churches in Chile and burn statues of Jesus in the streets as month-long protest over inequality turns violent.” However, this only proves the larger point, since the Mail is known as a conservative-market newspaper. Radials burning a church is right up its alley.
Backing up a bit, the Associated Press did cover this trend when nine churches burned in the weeks leading up to the 2018 visit to Chile by Pope Francis.
To their credit, AP editors did pick up coverage of the La Asuncion Church blaze, as well. The issue is whether American newsrooms ran that story — which is often hard to see on the Internet, since many newspapers do not include wire-service stories in their online editions.
Still, it was strange to see very, very little evidence that this Nov. 8 AP report was picked up.
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Hooded protesters looted a Roman Catholic church … near the main gathering site for three weeks of mass protests against Chile’s government over inequality.
An Associated Press photographer witnessed people dragging church pews, statues of Jesus and other religious iconography from La Asuncion church onto the street and setting them on fire in a flaming barricade before they clashed with police.
Ashes spread to Santiago’s Plaza Italia square where thousands were chanting and holding banners, while others turned on the lights on their cellphones and waved Chilean national flags. The Chilean capital’s mayor estimated about 75,000 people had crowded the square.
I wonder that the banners said? I ask that as a way of judging whether the Catholic churches was targeted by demonstrators or the trashing and burning seen at this church was a random event.
What’s the bottom line here? Let’s change the setting: Would it be news if alt-right demonstrators burned a church and trashed the altar of a Catholic church somewhere that was linked to efforts to aid of protect immigrants?
Of course journalists would rush to cover that fire, and rightly so. Those horrible images would be everywhere. That would not be “liberal” news or “conservative” news. That would be news.
So what happened with this ongoing trend in Chile, other than the fact that American newspapers struggle to cover international news. Just asking.