Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Guatemala City (Fides Service) - The Guatemalan Bishops’ Conference (CEG), at the end of its plenary assembly 24 to 28 January in Guatemala City issued a final statement on January 28.
The statement reaffirms the Bishops’ conviction that social peace can only by built with Christian commitment to transform the world. The daily encounter with the living Christ in the Eucharist reaffirms the urgency of assuming an active part in building a more just and fraternal society. The Bishops say they cannot remain indifferent to the problems with which the people are struggling: violence, insecurity, spreading poverty, free trade agreements, healthcare and more problems.
Recalling Pope John Paul II’s teaching that Bishops must protect the rights of the person in a situation of injustice, the Bishops express concern for the decision to make Guatemala a mining country because, in their opinion and the opinion of experts in the field “this would damage the future of the country with serious risk for the ecosystem and the life and health of the people of Guatemala as well as national sovereignty”. The statement underlines the Bishops’ concern that mining activity threatens to divide communities. To those who say the protection of the ecosystem is not a matter for the Church, the Bishops recall Pope John Paul II’s teaching on the matter and recall: “The most serious sign of the moral implications connected with the ecological question is lack of respect for life, as is seen from pollutant behaviour... economic interests come before the wellbeing of the person, and even of the nation. In theses cases pollution or destruction of the environment are the result of a reductive and anti-natural vision which often reveals contempt for human life ”.
Precisely in solidarity with all Guatemalans, the poor and the abandoned especially, the Bishops say they cannot remain silent as the fear in the near future , “an ecological catastrophe of unforeseeable dimensions, with fatal consequences for the life, health and dignity of the country following open air mining of metals”.
The statement ends with an exhortation to academic and scientific instances, civil society, human rights activists, ecologists, trade union organisations to continue to protest in a peaceful and lawful manner helping to clarify a very complex matter as open air mining and find suitable alternative industries for the desired integral development of the Guatemalan people. They invite Guatemalan Catholics and all men and women of goodwill who desire a nation of peace, freedom and solidarity to build it by means of active commitment for the common good.
While privileging the mining question, the assembly of Bishops also discussed other matters including the National Mission Congress, on the agenda for May 2005 at Quetzaltenango, on the theme “Making our parish missionary”. It also devoted ample space to analysis of the situation in Guatemala with regard to justice, respect for human rights, social, economic, cultural situation etc. CEG, Secretary adjunct Fr. Santiago Otero FMS, told Fides that besides a statement on the national situation there will also be a statement on the National Mission Congress. (RZ) (Agenzia Fides 31/1/2005; righe 43, parole 591)
