Dr. Jai Maharaj
2014-06-03 20:23:15 UTC
Chile: Catholic priests investigated over stolen babies
Church leaders admit to knowing about scheme in which
single mothers were pressured to give up their newborns
for adoption
By Jonathan Franklin in Santiago
The Guardian
theguardian.com
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Matias Troncoso, a well-known Chilean photographer, is
searching for his mother. He doesn?t even know what day
he was born.
The Catholic church in Chile is under investigation over
allegations that priests played a central role in a
network that stole newborn babies from single mothers.
Police investigators are now probing dozens of cases in
which unmarried women who became pregnant were pressured
by priests to give up their child for adoption. Those who
refused were anaesthetised during delivery and, upon
awakening, told that the child had died. The healthy
babies were hidden from their biological mothers and
given away in order to be raised by married couples in
"traditional" Catholic families.
Church leaders now admit they have known about the
network for at least 10 years. Unlike in Spain and
Argentina, where babies were stolen from families
considered to be too poor or too subversive to raise the
children well, the motivation in Chile was to shield the
reputations of well-off families from the social stigma
of unmarried motherhood.
Most of the cases now being investigated date from the
1970s and 1980s, but some were reported in 2005.
Chile's child protection agency ? Sername ? has now
opened an investigation and is working with detectives to
determine how many children are involved.
Continues at:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/15/chile-catholic-priests-investigated-stolen-babies
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj
Church leaders admit to knowing about scheme in which
single mothers were pressured to give up their newborns
for adoption
By Jonathan Franklin in Santiago
The Guardian
theguardian.com
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Matias Troncoso, a well-known Chilean photographer, is
searching for his mother. He doesn?t even know what day
he was born.
The Catholic church in Chile is under investigation over
allegations that priests played a central role in a
network that stole newborn babies from single mothers.
Police investigators are now probing dozens of cases in
which unmarried women who became pregnant were pressured
by priests to give up their child for adoption. Those who
refused were anaesthetised during delivery and, upon
awakening, told that the child had died. The healthy
babies were hidden from their biological mothers and
given away in order to be raised by married couples in
"traditional" Catholic families.
Church leaders now admit they have known about the
network for at least 10 years. Unlike in Spain and
Argentina, where babies were stolen from families
considered to be too poor or too subversive to raise the
children well, the motivation in Chile was to shield the
reputations of well-off families from the social stigma
of unmarried motherhood.
Most of the cases now being investigated date from the
1970s and 1980s, but some were reported in 2005.
Chile's child protection agency ? Sername ? has now
opened an investigation and is working with detectives to
determine how many children are involved.
Continues at:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/15/chile-catholic-priests-investigated-stolen-babies
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.jai-maharaj