AMERICA/PERU - The indigenous and peasant communities, risk being the "human" suburbs, the priorities of the Populorum Progressio Foundation

Wednesday, 19 June 2013

Arequipa (Agenzia Fides) - The annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the Autonomous Populorum Progressio Foundation assigned, since its founding in 1992, to the Pontifical Council Cor Unum is being held.
As every year, the Bishops who compose it are asked to approve the financing of projects in favor of indigenous, half-caste communities, Afro-Americans and the peasants of Latin America and the Caribbean.
This time the meeting is held in Arequipa, Peru one of the most important cities of Peru, in the south of the capital. Fides manged to speak with Mrs. Adriana Manrique, responsible for organizing the meeting on behalf of the Archdiocese of Arequipa, which confirmed the participation of the following members of the Board: His Excellency Cardinal Robert Sarah, President ex officio of the Foundation; His Exc. Mgr. Edmundo Luis Flavio Abastoflor Montero, Archbishop of La Paz, Bolivia, Chairman of the Board of Directors; His Exc. Mgr. Antonio Arregui Yarza, Archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador, Vice President; His Exc. Mgr. Oscar Urbina Ortega, Archbishop of Villavicencio, Colombia; His Exc. Mgr. Murilo Sebastião Ramos Krieger, Archbishop of São Salvador de Bahia, Brazil; His Exc. Mgr. Javier Augusto del Río Alba, Archbishop of Arequipa, Peru; Mgr. Segundo Tejado Muñoz, Representative of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.
Manrique also pointed out that "The main beneficiaries of Populorum Progressio, in particular indigenous and peasant communities, risk becoming the "human" suburbs (pointing out Pope Francis’ sentences "be careful of the suburbs") in a continent that is experiencing a phase of significant economic development, but is characterized by large social inequalities, especially penalizing those segments of the population who remain on the margins of this development."
This year 222 projects were presented by 18 countries, in particular Colombia, Brazil, Peru and Ecuador. The projects are characterized by a broadly participatory approach on behalf of local communities that contribute in all phases of the work: from conception, to the concrete realization in the event of approval. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 19/06/2013)


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