Santiago, Chile — Chilean new presidentJose Antonio joins the growing list of cast, right inclination Latin American leader. He is not only conservative – he is also openly religious.
Kast – who took office on March 11 – is a Catholic and part of the Schönstatt movement, an international community dedicated to the Virgin Mary. As a staunchly conservative The former MLA, a 60-year-old father of nine, had protested against the sale of emergency contraceptive pills in 2009. He has also spoken out against gay marriage and abortion, positions he emphasized during his tenure. 2021 president bid.
“We are inviting you on a journey to reclaim the values for a just and healthy life,” Cast said on election night last December. “It requires everyone’s commitment.”
Advocates for abortion rights and LGBTQ+ rights have been on alert since Kast took office. Even if there is no immediate change in policy, they worry it will be more difficult to move forward with their objectives.
Kast won 58% of the vote after promising to crack down on crime and deport immigrants without legal status. As part of a broader regional trend, other conservative leaders such as El Salvador Nayib Bukele and argentina xavier miley Has come to power on various priorities including security and economic reforms.
Cast posts also align to part With US President Donald Trump, whose administration welcomed his victory.
Here’s a look at the cast’s religious backgrounds and how their faith resonates with some Chileans in a country increasingly described as secular.
Chile, along with other Latin American countries, has seen a decline in Catholic affiliation over the past two decades. According to a 2024 Latinobarometro report, the proportion of Catholics in the region as a whole fell from 80% in 1995 to 54% in 2024.
In Chile, 45% of the population identified as Catholic while 37% said they had no religion and about 12% identified as Protestant.
According to Luis Bahamondes, a religion scholar at the University of Chile, the Catholic Church was one of the country’s most trusted institutions during the 1990s. However, a series of social changes and sexual abuse scandal Destroyed that notion. “It has become one of the most questioned and least trusted institutions,” Bahamondes said.
Still, he said, conservative tendencies have long been evident in the country.
Bahamondes recalled that Chile was the last country in Latin America to legalize divorce in 2004. He said, recently there has been opposition to sex education in schools.
Religion classes are not mandatory in Chile. They are optional in both public and private institutions.
Bahamondes said, “There are still concepts that resonate strongly in Chilean society – such as family and marriage – that have a strong religious significance.” “There is often talk of a crisis of Catholicism, but what is in crisis is the institution, not the faith.”
Kast and his wife are part of the Schönstatt, a Catholic apostolic movement dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was founded in Germany in 1914, at the beginning of the First World War.
Schoenstatt arrived in 1947 in the Chilean coastal city of Valparaíso, where the movement’s first temple was built. It then expanded to other parts of the country including Santiago, Temuco and Concepcion. It currently claims to have around 10,000 followers and has more than 20 temples.
According to Rev. Gonzalo Illanes, director of the movement in Chile, Schönstatt has three pillars: the formation of persons, the relationship between faith and daily life, and the central role of the Virgin Mary.
Ilanes said CAST has been a longtime member of the community, encouraging its members to create a better world. He said, “Schönstatt, like the Catholic Church, is not a political movement but a place for formation, faith and regeneration.”
Like CAST, Schoenstatt emphasizes the protection of life from conception to natural death. However, Ilanes said, the group is open to dialogue. “The challenge is how to move forward,” he said, “and not stop talking.”
“He is a president who gives me a lot of confidence,” said Jorge Herrera, a Catholic who hails from Schönstatt and who voted for Kast. “I share his values.”
He said one of Schoenstatt’s core beliefs is the idea that each person has a unique life mission. “God didn’t bring us here by accident,” he said. “We exist because we are called to do something special.”
Cast’s stance against abortion matches Herrera’s views. Yet, beyond their shared religious beliefs, it was Kast’s political vision that attracted them ahead of the 2025 elections.
“He’s a very capable guy and he has a plan,” Herrera said. “I think Chile needs a plan.”
The sense of confidence in the cast extends to South America.
In Mexico, where there is a left-leaning government and abortion is decriminalized in more than half of its states, some people aspire to a leader like him.
“It makes me believe that he publicly admits to being inspired by Christianity,” said Rodrigo Iván Cortés, president of a conservative advocacy group. “It doesn’t mean that he wants to impose his faith on others, but it means that he claims it.”
Caste came close to the presidency of Chile in 2021 but lost gabriel boric. At the time, his opposition to abortion and gay marriage, as well as his history of defending of Augusto Pinochet The dictatorship was widely rejected by many Chileans.
KAUST focused its 2025 presidential campaign on security. Yet analysts agree that his views could still impact reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights.
Cristian Gonzalez Cabrera, LGBTQ-rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said, “There are legitimate reasons for concern, though not necessarily for an immediate rollback as seen with Miley.” he was referring to Argentine President’s ban Gender-affirming care for people under the age of 18.
González Cabrera said, “The risks with CAST may be more gradual: slowing progress, undermining public policies and legitimizing anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.”
With regard to women’s and reproductive rights, Catalina Calderón, chief advocacy officer of the Center for Women’s Equality, said that one of Caste’s first measures as president was a 3% cut in the budget.
“Across the region, we have seen that when leaders of the political wing to which the castes belong take office, the first thing that happens is to roll back individual rights and women’s rights,” she said.
Calderón pointed to Argentina, where Miley cut funding to a program that implemented comprehensive sex education policies and aimed to prevent teen pregnancy.
It’s also notable, he said, that Chile’s new female and health ministers are openly religious.
“He belongs to the private sector,” she said. “But how that approach might shape the administration should be watched closely.”
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Hernandez reported from Mexico City.
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The Associated Press’s religion coverage receives support from the AP Collaboration With The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content.
