Agenzia Fides

Asuncion (Agenzia Fides) – The celebration of the Te Deum for 201 years of independence in Paraguay was marked by an unique note: the people were not allowed to go into the Cathedral or the Square in front, though this order was not officially given by anyone. On Monday 14 May, the Coadjutor Archbishop of Asuncion, His Excellency, Msgr. Edmundo Ponziano Valenzuela Mellid S.D.B. described the country in a very different way from that referred to, a short time previously, by President Lugo in his discourse to the nation before entering the Cathedral and in the presence only of the authorities.
Msgr. Valezuela Mellid recalled that the Episcopal Conference of Paraguay, on the occasion of the Bicentenary, had asked to “overcome poverty, underdevelopment and marginalization which the country was experiencing, by public policies directed to face the urgent situations of the nation”. The Archbishop said that, “ the Church is asking to overcome impunity and corruption that has invaded the country, and that has to do with the necessity of the reform of the judicial system”. He also said that there still has to be done: “Agrarian reform, the fight against ownership of extensive land properties, the recovery of lands illicitly taken over by others and the protection of the environment”.
Msgr. Vallenzuela exhorted all those present to thank God for the country and to pray for its future, certain that the grace of God will never fail. He asked the political parties to avoid friction and conflicts of every kind, to put aside personal and group interests in order to form a political will for the common good of the country. Lastly, the Archbishop called on all to form a nation, one big family, united under the same flag of ideals of peace, justice, liberty, union and equality that Jesus Christ summarized in the commandment of love of God and neighbor.
(CE) (Agenzia Fides, 16/05/2012)