AMERICA/HONDURAS - Bishops for the elections: "Restoring politics, democracy, rule of law and hope"

Friday, 27 October 2017

criterio.hn

Tegucigalpa (Agenzia Fides) – To create a country with a different future, which has dignity and without corruption: this is the wish expressed in a press release, less than one month before the 2017 General Elections, by the Honduran Episcopal Conference (CEH). In the statement sent to Fides, entitled "Elections 2017" the Bishops note "the opportunity to prepare a better future for Honduras", inviting them to reflect on the electoral deadline.
The document, the result of the CEH meeting from 9 to 13 October, suggests the topic of reflection of youth groups this weekend in many parishes in the country.
The four points that the document proposes are: restoring politics, democracy, rule of law and hope. Restoring politics, means to understand that political life is the prerogative of the whole population and not just for a few parties; therefore there is an invitation to the people to participate actively, to leave aside fear and lack of confidence, to pursue a policy of the common good and respect for moral values.
Restoring democracy is "the first condition, it is freedom, which means no pressure or blackmail, and to have enough elements and information to identify the characteristics of honesty, legality and legitimacy, or the lack of these, in each of the candidates. The condition of authenticity depend on these which must characterize any electoral process", says the text.
Restoring the rule of law "is necessary - say the Bishops - to ensure the legal and social order in the coexistence of citizenship within our country. Without the respect for the principles that inspire the legal order of the state, the stability of international relations is not guaranteed".
Finally there is need to restore hope: "Hope is faith in a better future that, with the help of God, we can build. It is an action that leads us to the desire of a Honduras ruled by those who truly love our country and they are willing to serve it and not use it for their own benefit. Hope allows us to be demanding towards those who are called to work for social and legal justice, to those who have vowed to serve the Constitution without violating it".
The document concludes with a message of encouragement to the people of Honduras: "We hope for a better future for Honduras, with a government that has effective programs to build a country where, as Pope Francis said, there is 'No family without housing, no farmworker without land, no worker without rights, no one without the dignity that work provides' (Pope's meeting with popular movements, Vatican, 28 October 2014)". (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 27/10/2017)


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