This Sunday, September 17th, the Thanksgiving service, also known as the Evangelical Te Deum, took place at the Evangelical Cathedral of Puente Alto. It is the second time the president has attended Gabriel Boric.
The ceremony was presided over by the bishop Edmundo Zenteno, the highest representative of the Pentecostal Methodist Church of Chile. He was also responsible for speaking during the liturgy.
Upon his arrival, the President greeted the people in the area and then received appropriate honors from the Armed Forces.
Among the participants, government representatives stood out, such as the Minister of the Interior, Carolina Toha the head of the Segpres, Alvaro Elizalde; the Minister of Health, Ximena Aguilera; the chief of defense, Maya Fernandez; the transport minister, Juan Carlos Muñoz; Your sports couple, Jaime Pizarro; the government spokesman minister, Camila Vallejo, among other executive authorities. Also present was the President of the Constitutional Council, Beatriz Hevia (Republican), as well as representatives of the armed forces and law enforcement agencies.
The head of state left to make statements after the liturgy, but Minister Tohá spoke to the press and highlighted the ceremony. “There was a lot of talk about justice, encounter, truth, reconciliation and their relationship to each other. I think that this holiday is a message for the whole country in this regard,” he explained.
For his part, Elizalde highlighted the activity as an example of Chile’s wealth of diversity. Against this background, he demanded that the constituent process should respect the principle of religious freedom in Chile. “This includes not only religious freedom, but also recognizing the diversity that exists in a society like ours,” he said.
“Peace and Reconciliation”
Bishop Edmundo Zenteno’s main call, along with truth and justice, was the unity of the country.
“We meet to pray to the Lord for real peace and reconciliation for Chileans, so that sincere steps are taken to build a harmonious social life, which can only be achieved with divine help,” he said.
The ceremony has been held since 1975 and for a long time took place in the Evangelical Cathedral in the Estación Central, but after complaints about the ex-bishop’s high wealth Eduardo Duran (then the highest representative of the Pentecostal Methodist Church) was relocated to Puente Alto in 2018.
