AMERICA/PERU - President of the Bishops' Conference requests that the draft bill on religious freedom be addressed “in a climate of dialogue, respect for people and institutions, and seeking above all the good of the country”

Lima (Agenzia Fides) - “I am making a call to serenity and to sanity, so that this Parliament may address the most urgent matters that now concern Peruvian society. An example of this are the events that have been occurring in Chumbivilcas, a Province of Cusco,” said Archbishop Hector Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte of Trujillo, President of the Peruvian Bishops' Conference, in a declaration on the approval of the draft bill on religious freedom in Peru. The President of the Peruvian Bishops' Conference recalls that “the Catholic Church is the primary defender and promoter of religious freedom.” In this sense, we should remember that “it was the Peruvian Bishops' Conference that proposed the principle of religious freedom which was later inserted into the Constitution of 1979 and just as it is now in the current Constitution.” In fact, Article 2 of the Political Constitution of Peru expresses the fact that no one should be discriminated on account of religion and Article 3 says that every person has the right to freedom of religion, personally and in the free public exercise of all creeds, as long as they do not offend moral or public order. Likewise, “since the 1979 Constitution, the Peruvian State does not have an official religion and establishes a relationship of independence and collaboration with the Catholic Church, as is mentioned in Article 50 of the current Constitution, the same that also establishes that the State respect other creeds and can establish forms of collaboration with them.”
In addition, Archbishop Cabrejos says, it is important to take into account the social roots of a creed. In this sense, “the Catholic Church is over 2,000 years old and in Peru, she has played an undeniable role in the historical, cultural, and moral formation of the current society, which necessarily makes it stand out in its relationship to the State, in comparison with the relationships that the State may have with other creeds.”
He also mentions that “the relationship between the Peruvian State and the Catholic Church are regulated by an accord between the Holy See and the Peruvian State, which has a binding character as it is an accord of international law.”
Thus, the President of the Bishops' Conference laments that “within the mark of collaboration, which should take precedence in the Catholic Church's relationship with the State, on this matter Parliament has not made official consultations with the Peruvian Bishops' Conference.” Moreover, he shows his surprise that “having so many serious and urgent problems to respond to in the country, a group of Congress members is working to approve this law in the Constitutional Commission,” considering that “of the 16 members of the Commission of the Constitution, only 6 have voted.”
Archbishop Cabrejos concluded his declaration with exhortations asking that the matter be addressed “in a climate of dialogue, respect for people and institutions, and seeking above all the good of the country.” (RG) (Agenzia Fides 14/7/2009)