Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Quito (Agenzia Fides) - “Our country has a great desire for positive change which will affect the life of our nation for the good of all the people" the Catholic Bishops of Ecuador said in a message issued at the end of a Plenary Assembly held 15 - 19 October. The Bishops express concern for problems such as poverty, unemployment, migrants; excluded women, children and young people who receive inadequate education and are denied the opportunity for higher study or a job; lack of respect for the dignity and right to equality of the indigenous communities and Afro-Ecuadorians; boys and girls forced to work or prostitute themselves; babies victims of abortion; abuse of drugs and alcohol; AIDS; alarming level of insecurity, delinquency, social violence as well as widespread corruption in public institutions, and the economy, public and private.
In this situation, the Bishops affirm, "country wants a change", referring to the election on 30 September of the members of the new Constituent Assembly. The Bishops express the hope that the most opportune changes may be achieved and they pray the Lord will illuminate the minds of the Assembly members ”. At the same time they say the new Constitution must guarantee: respect for the dignity of the human person; education centred on the person, quality education for all children. The State must protect human life as the first inalienable right of every person, and the family formed of a husband and wife, the nucleus of every society. The state must fight corruption in all its forms. And the Bishops conclude "reforms of the structures of the state under the present circumstances, should aim to strengthen national unity and real participated democracy, based on the person and which includes the necessary equity and harmony between common good and special interests ". (RG) (Agenzia Fides 23/10/2007: righe 25, parole 356)
