AMERICA/CHILE - Work begins on the new Constitution: a prayer in all Masses

Saturday, 3 July 2021 politics   social situation   episcopal conferences  

notizie geopolitiche

Santiago (Agenzia Fides) - The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Conference of Chile has approved an initiative proposed by the National Commission for Justice and Peace, based on the express request of some constituents, so that next Sunday, July 4, 2021, the Chilean Church can address to God a special prayer intention for those who, on this day, will begin the work of drafting a new political Constitution of the Republic of Chile.
The intention for the universal prayer that will be added on Sunday, July 4 in all Masses is the following: "We pray to you, Lord, for all those people who, as members of the Constituent Convention, begin today to draft a new political constitution for our country. Send them the Holy Spirit to assist them with its gifts, so that they can listen, dialogue and propose a new constitution that protects the common good, based on peace and justice".
By sending the text of the prayer, the Standing Committee hopes that it will be widely distributed among priests and pastoral workers who prepare the Sunday liturgical celebration, so that they pray for this intention in all places where the Eucharist is celebrated.
At the height of a long period of crisis that Chile has gone through in all fields - political, economic, social and ecclesial - since October 2019, with mobilizations, violence and clashes that have not spared places of worship, the plebiscite of October 25, 2020 (see Fides, 27/10/2020) sanctioned the beginning of the process for the drafting of a new Constitution, which dates back to Augusto Pinochet. With 87% of the votes cast, 78.2% of the citizens voted for the change of the Constitution, against 21.8% who expressed the desire not to change it. Its drafting was entrusted to a "Constituent Convention", whose members were chosen in the elections of May 15 and 16, 2021.
The Episcopal Conference of Chile (CEC) published a document containing the main teachings of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church on social matters, with a view to drafting the new Constitution. The Chilean Church thus intends to propose "the treasure of wisdom and humanity that it received from Jesus Christ, and offers it to believers and non-believers, in the conviction that these teachings shed light on social problems in the light of God - is written in the presentation of the text.
There are in fact some common and immutable principles that unite all cultures, which are independent of consensus and which the Church tries to teach with her Magisterium. For this reason she hopes that these pages will be a contribution to the constitutive dialogue necessary for the search for the common good". (see Fides, 13/4/2021). (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 3/7/2021)


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