Vol. 18 (2023): SPECIAL ISSUE - ABUSE & POWER IN ECCLESIASTICAL ENVIRONMENTS

Abuse in the Church is as old as the institution itself. Still, it was not until the 21st century that it became public with scandals such as the Boston scandal or the Legion of Christ scandal, a case covered up by the highest representatives of the Catholic Church for decades. The scandals and the public testimony of some victims opened a space for many others to remember, to name the abuse, to denounce it, and in some cases, to access some form of reparation.

Towards the end of the 2000s, in European countries, the United States and Australia, different investigative bodies linked to the churches or the State were created, such as restorative justice mechanisms that seek to address this severe problem by emphasizing the restitution of the truth, the recognition of the victims and reparation. At the same time, many cases that had not found a response or that had been directly obstructed in internal investigations of churches and religious communities are being prosecuted, even though the statute of limitations makes it impossible to punish the perpetrators.

In this social, moral, and political context, research in the social and human sciences on what is now called ecclesiastical abuse began to be produced. Although academic production is growing in different parts of the world, in Latin America, there are few publications on this subject, Chile being a hotbed of contributions in the region.

This special issue aims to contribute to this emerging field of study with articles that report, from a disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective, different dimensions, aspects, and levels of ecclesiastical abuse. The emphasis is placed on systemic elements of abuse, such as power asymmetries, cultures of abuse, gender and generational relations, ambiguities of bonds of affection and dependence, as well as the institutional hierarchies under whose wing these abuses occurred and were often silenced.

Guest Editors:

Lorena Contreras Taibo (Universidad Diego Portales, Chile)
Paola Díaz Lizé (Universidad Diego Portales, Chile)
Cristián Pinto Cortez (Universidad de Tarapacá, Chile)