Santiago, Chile, Jan 17, 2006 / 22:00 pm
The President of the Bishops’ Conference of Chile, Bishop Alejandro Goic, told a prominent homosexual leader this week that the Church defends the dignity of all persons and that the Bishops’ Conference is always willing to enter into dialogue.
The “Episcopate’s doors are open to any organization that wishes to dialogue about the issues that interest or concern that organization or person. That’s why we met with this individual. We had a very sincere dialogue,” Bishop Goic said of the meeting with Rolando Jimenez of the Homosexual Movement for Integration and Liberation.
Speaking to reporters, Bishop Goic said that during the meeting “we pointed out, first of all, that each person is a child of God, created in His image and likeness and who therefore deserves our most profound respect.” “The dignity of every person is sacred,” he said.
Father Fernando Chomali of the bishops’ National Committee on Bioethics, who also spoke with reporters, recalled that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, open to life, and in the case of persons with homosexual tendencies, the Church receives them with love and invites them to live in chastity. He added that the Church would always “make her position known” whenever legislation on marriage is proposed.
Jimenez called the meeting sincere, although he acknowledged that “profound differences” exist between his ideas and the teachings of the Church.