AMERICA/COLOMBIA - The Church shows its closeness to the victims of the “financial pyramids,” a “manifestation of the moral illness that our country is suffering, as a result of the debasement of social customs.”

Bogota (Agenzia Fides) - “With our loving care as Pastors, we accompany all those who have lost goods and savings. We understand their suffering and anxiety and we encourage them to seek, with courage and yet prudence and legality, the restitution of their properties.” This is how the statement from the President of the Colombian Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Barranquilla, begins. In his message, the Archbishop expresses his affection and closeness to those who in the economic crisis of the “financial pyramids” have lost their savings. The statement denounces the events that have occurred and says that they reveal more of a “state of moral illness that our country is suffering, as a result of the debasement of social customs – as well as a vicious circle of cause-effect – the generalized violence, the injustice that has permeated all the areas of national life, widespread corruption, exaggerated political undergoing that have impeded the construction of an ordered and peaceful nation, the absolute quest for easy profit, and the spread of crime, especially drug-trafficking, contraband, and organized delinquency.” This moral illness, the Bishops say, leads to a great number of victims, “the majority of whom are without protection and helpless before the destructive forces imposing on their dignity.”
In light of this situation, the President of the CEC made a call to the powers-at-be of the country to place aside all that causes confrontation and division, in order to “sincerely seek the common good of all Colombians, especially the poorest and most vulnerable,” and thus, “join in building a more just, fraternal, united, and peaceful society.”
The Archbishop concludes his message by recalling the beginning of the season of Advent on Sunday, November 30, as it is the time in which we especially celebrate the mystery of God's infinite love manifested in Jesus Christ. “May we receive this merciful love, making it our own, and making the feast of Christmas a chance to continue the common task of making Colombia a peaceful homeland for all.”
The “financial pyramids” are illegal companies that collect money, and in which up to 300 percent earnings are offered in just a few months, using money invested by new clients, until the pyramid caves in. The Colombian government, two weeks ago, had to intervene in the case of the DMG, considered by some to be the largest of this kind, with alleged links to drug-trafficking and political leaders. The fall of these illegal entities led the Government declare a “social emergency,” in which thousands of Colombians lost their money, the quantity of which has not yet been officially determined. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 27/11/2008)