AMERICA/ARGENTINA - “Let us think more about what we can do for our country and not so much in what our country can do for us”: exhortation from the Bishop’s Permanent Committee regarding the conflict between the rural sector and the government

Friday, 6 June 2008

Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) – “The nation needs heroic acts” is the title of the document that was published by the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina at the close of the extraordinary meeting held for the Permanent Committee on June 5, amidst the unrest and threat to peace being caused by the prolonged conflict between the rural sector and the national government (see Fides 3/6/2008).
“We need to realize that the situations that we are living now undermine us as a community, isolate us from the world, and ultimately place the poorest citizens especially at high risk,” the Bishops said. They also mention that “the prolongation of the conflict and the apparent impossibility in resolving it are signs of institutional weakness.”
The Bishops’ Conference, sees that the only means to resolving the conflict is “through heroic acts and a greater intervention effort on the part of governmental institutions.” With this in mind, they remind the public powers that they are the ones who must try to find a solution, “as the main guardians of the common good, in accord with the function that corresponds to each one, attributed them by the National Constitution.” The Bishops also remind them that according to the Church’s Social Doctrine, they “should not ignore or underestimate the moral dimension of representation that consists in the commitment to share in the destiny of the people and in finding solutions to social problems.” This is why they make an appeal to the nation’s government, asking that they immediately convoke an honest and constructive dialogue, and to the rural sectors in conflict, they ask that they revise their claim strategies.
“Let us think more about what we can do for our country and not so much in what our country can do for us. There are still many of our brethren living in poverty and exclusion and expect all of us Argentineans to make a firm and persevering commitment to justice and solidarity,” the Bishops exhorted. And with that, they asked that all join in prayer, as it is so necessary at this time, in “an act of selflessness in favor of our most needy brothers.” (RG) (Agenzia Fides 06/06/2008)


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