Juan Francisco Fresno, 90; Santiago Cardinal Worked to Revive Democracy in Chile

Juan Francisco Fresno, the cardinal who played a key role in efforts to restore democracy in Chile during the military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, has died, Roman Catholic authorities said. He was 90.

The Santiago Archdiocese said Fresno died Thursday of kidney failure.

The prelate retired in 1989 after leading Santiago Catholics for six years, a period during which he hosted a visit by Pope John Paul II and promoted the first contacts between the Pinochet regime and the opposition seeking to restore civilian rule.

The pope’s 1987 visit came during a time of political tension, as the military regime that had ruled for 14 years faced an increasingly strong and bold opposition.

Soldiers and police suppressed street demonstrations, leaving scores of victims. A Mass celebrated by the pope and attended by nearly half a million people at a Santiago park ended in clouds of tear gas as police broke up a demonstration by anti-Pinochet protesters.

Fresno was born in Santiago on July 26, 1914, into an upper-class family. He was ordained in 1937, and in 1958, Pope Pius XII named him bishop of the newly created Copiapo Diocese, in the heart of Chile’s mining region. Fresno presided over Chile’s Bishops Conference in the 1970s.

In 1983, the pope named him to succeed Cardinal Raul Silva, who had displeased the Pinochet regime for years with his strong defense of human rights and appeals for democracy.

“Our prayers have been heard,” Pinochet’s wife, Lucia Hiriart, said upon the announcement that Fresno would be the new leader of the Catholic Church in Chile.

Fresno quickly and openly made contact with opposition leaders, however, and persuaded them to unite in a pro-democracy effort that included Marxists and rightists. He also promoted their first, tense contacts with the government.

The result, in 1985, was a concrete plan for gradual transition to democracy, but Fresno was not allowed to deliver a document outlining the plan to the presidential palace.

Eventually -- at least in part because of the opposition unity that Fresno promoted -- Pinochet was forced to call a referendum on his presidency, which he lost Oct. 5, 1988. He had to call an open election in 1990, bringing the restoration of civilian rule.

“All Chileans owe a lot to Cardinal Fresno,” President Ricardo Lagos said, speaking from Budapest, Hungary, where he was attending a summit of social democratic leaders.

Government spokesman Francisco Vidal said, “Cardinal Fresno will be remembered as a man who worked for peace and democracy.”

Fresno will be buried Sunday.