Abstract

PAIS BERNARDO, Luís. From chaplaincy to religious assistance: The Portuguese religious field in hospitals. Soc. relig. [online]. 2016, vol.26, n.46, pp.181-200. ISSN 1853-7081.

Between 1980 and 2009, religion in Portuguese hospitals was intensely regulated and faced a transitional process. In this transition, chaplains lost their discretionary power and a formal regulatory model of religious assistance was imposed. In this new model, chaplains are no longer (formally) entitled to decision-making power with regard to the access enjoyed by religious representatives to hospital space and patients. This question generated resistance and discussion in the context of continued Catholic dominance. This is a comparative case study of three Portuguese public hospitals in which, between 2011 and 2014, political actors in the healthcare policy subsystem, Catholic chaplains and religious representatives from the most significant religious traditions in Portugal were interviewed. We attempt to determine the role of religious diversity and spirituality as political arguments and pillars of the transition between the traditional chaplaincy model and a spiritual and religious assistance model. Convergence between the three cases is limited, specifically with regard to the relationship maintained between religious assistance and the hospital environment and the mode of negotiation of religious diversity. The Roman Catholic Church sustains its dominant position through strategic cooperation with a limited number of religious traditions which are themselves legimitated by the dyad Roman Catholic Church-Portuguese State.

Keywords : Chaplaincy; Religious Assistance; Portugal; Religious Field; Public Hospitals.

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