AMERICA/PERU - “All of us, as individuals and as a community, must work for the transformation and moral regeneration of our country”: say Catholic Bishops two months ahead of elections

Thursday, 16 February 2006

Lima (Fides Service) - The Catholic Bishops of Peru have issued ethical guidelines for electors and candidates to encourage reflection and responsibility for the nation in view of elections in two months time. In the statement ‘Ethic Commitment in Peru’, dated 15 February, the Bishops say “this is a time to encourage confidence and faith in ourselves and in our country and its institutions. We are all responsible for the common good. All of us, as individuals and as a community, must work for the transformation and moral regeneration of our country”.
The Bishops recall that “voting is a right and a duty because it is the way in which citizens express in conscience their political choice and by voting take a responsible part in shaping the country’s future”. Therefore they call on all Peruvians to vote taking into consideration fundamental ethic values: respect and guarantee of basic inviolable rights of the human person and the family, natural founding nucleus of society; defence of life from conception to natural end, rejection of abortion, euthanasia and anything that implicates the death of the unborn child; respect and guarantee of the essential values at the basis of a free, just and democratic society in which the rights of each and every citizen are guaranteed.
The Bishops say candidates and politicians are expected to be “ethically committed and show the political will to eliminate corruption” which has infected institutions striking public morals and ethics. They call on the candidates to “adopt adequate and effective programmes to respond to the urgent needs of their co-citizens, especially the poor and the excluded, harnessing the latter’s potential for development”.
The Bishops warn the media not to debase their service with “mere manipulative or partial propaganda”, but rather to guarantee voters “information which is true, honest and effective”. The say the electoral campaign must be undertaken with “transparency, dignity and content, and with due respect for private life”. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 13/2/2006 - righe 26, parole 375)


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