For the hygiene of the soul. The Pastoral reading in the Chilean Catholic Church in the early twentieth century

Abstract

In the first decades of the Twentieth century, the conformation of the reading public space in Chile led the leaders of secular and religious Catholics to launch print production initiatives not only to rival hostile communications emanating from areas such as faith, culture and politics, but, simultaneously, to point out what, how much and how it should be read by the population, especially by the believer part of the society. With this, it was intended to give a kind of complement closing to the communication strategy of the so called "Buena Prensa" (Good Press), and also as an authoritative guidance of how supporters of the true faith should deal with the latest news and threat of modern times. Based on the consultation of various written interventions of civil and ecclesiastical officials at the time, this article attempts to set some of the most relevant topics of the mentioned form of forearm and guide the reading system considered adequate and aligned to the Christian moral conscience.