As the mine rescue drama neared a climax in the Atacama desert, evangelical, Adventist and Catholic clerics vied with one another to stamp their own faith on a surge in religious fervour in Chile.
The three Christian denominations each claimed credit for what they say is divine intervention in the survival — and rescue — of the 33 men who spent two months underground.
“God has spoken to me clearly and guided my hand each step of the rescue,” said Carlos Parra Diaz, a Seventh Day Adventist pastor.
“He wanted the miners to be rescued and I am His instrument.”
Just metres from where he spoke, Caspar Quintana, the Catholic bishop of Copiapo, prepared an altar to celebrate an outdoor mass for a small congregation of miners’ relatives and a phalanx of TV cameras.
“God has heard our prayers,” he said. “I have received encouragement from all over the world. Let us give thanks.”
A little bit further up the hill of Camp Hope, the improvised settlement of miners’ families, rescuers, government officials and media, an evangelical preacher, Javier Soto, wandered from family to family with a guitar and sang songs of praise. “He listens to the music,” said the pastor, gesturing skywards.
Rise in religious faith
Each church has reported a rise in religious faith in Chile and beyond, with candlelit vigils and online communities following each step of preparations to extract the miners one by one in a capsule.
All 33 miners and six rescuers had been extracted by last Thursday morning.
Diaz, an intense 42-year-old dressed in black, claimed to be the first cleric at the mine and said it was no coincidence that an exploration probe reached the trapped men — 17 days after the August 5 collapse — while he was praying above.
“The first probe missed them. They heard it going in the wrong direction and thought that they’d starve to death. But the second probe went right to them.”
Diaz mobilised colleagues in the capital Santiago to find miniature, 7cm-wide Bibles to fit into the “pigeon” tubes which delivered supplies to the men. He sent one to each miner, earning a letter of thanks from Jose Ojeda, the master driller.
None of the miners is an Adventist, but six have relatives who belong to the church, which believes in the imminent Second Coming of Christ.
Diaz stole a march over his rivals by obtaining permission to give a 10-minute talk to the assembled 33 families before their nightly briefing by government officials.
“I do macro-work. I am pastor to all” — the other churches did ”micro-work”. The pastor claimed his Catholic rival had trekked up to the bleak, muddy site just three or four times.
Competition
Quintana, after concluding a mass in which TV cameras outnumbered worshippers, would not comment on the competition, but said he had received supportive emails from across the world.
“What matters is that God is acting through human ingenuity to rescue these men.”
Shrines to the men, dotted around the site, are adorned with statues of saints and posters of religious figures such as Pope John Paul II.
Some miners who were not religious before, such as Franklin Lobos, had found faith during their ordeal, said relatives.
When the mine collapsed, a “white butterfly” led him to the refuge and safety, said his brother, Manuel Lobos. —