The Social Thought of Fray Pedro Bustos and the Role of Saving in the Solution of the Social Question

Abstract

This article presents descriptively the social thought of the Franciscan religious and Chilean philosopher, Fray Pedro Bustos, particularly in his proposal of saving as a solution to the Chilean social question in the first decades of the 20th century. The review of his writings allows us to find a thought based on European authors but adapted to the national context and reinforced by a personal closeness to the working world. From there and in consonance with social Catholicism and an integral anthropology, he interpreted the social question and the protagonism of the proletarians themselves in its solution, training and saving. It was not an easy task, since cultural, labor, and political factors did not favor it, and to achieve it, it required the subsidy of Christian charity.