How Young People are Helping to Rebuild a Vandalized Church

The Church of the Assumption in the Chilean capital Santiago was one of the churches that was vandalized and burned out during the protests of October 18, 2020. According to the report on Religious Freedom Worldwide, published in April 2021 by the international Catholic pastoral charity and pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN International), no fewer than sixty Christian churches and chapels have been the targets of vandalism in Chile since October 2019.

Local college students, academics and volunteers launched the project “Sursum Corde” (Lift up your hearts) with the aim of assessing the damage and cleaning and rescuing items of sculpture and paintings.