AMERICA/BOLIVIA – Bishops call for judicial reform: Human dignity and human rights must be the focus
La Paz (Agenzia Fides) – “In the Gospel, the woman, the widow, wanted justice, and had to deal with a judge who didn’t care about God or men, it seems that she lived in Bolivia, where many are asking for a reform of justice, without being heard”. This was underlined by Msgr. Robert Flock, Bishop of the diocese of San Ignacio de Velásquez, during the Holy Mass celebrated yesterday in the parish of San Rafael during which he administered the sacrament of Confirmation to a group of young people. The judge mentioned in the Gospel, administrator of justice, lacked two of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Bishop underlined: he did not have the holy fear of God and not even mercy, “because he made people suffer injustice” .
On several occasions, the Bolivian bishops have recalled the urgent need to start a reform process with the participation and consensus of all the country’s institutions and forces, because “there is an urgent need to have an adequate and impartial judicial system that can serve many people, the victims of delays and manipulations of the judiciary, restores confidence and hope,” says a statement published by the Permanent Council of the Bolivian Bishops’ Conference on February 17 (see Fides, 18/2/2022).
In other parishes and dioceses, too, the clergy used the Gospel of the day (Lk 8:1-8) to return to the subject in their homilies. Thus, Archbishop Percy Lorenzo Galván of La Paz (Flores), in his homily at the Sunday service in the Cathedral, recalled that “about 60 percent of those imprisoned in La Paz are in pre-trial detention” and will remain in prison until their situation is clarified, that is Days, weeks, months and for many already years. “We must also know, dear brothers and sisters, that in many cases they are in prison for purely political reasons, and we must not be silent in the face of this injustice, in the face of the example of the parable that the Word of God reminds us. The Archbishop also pointed out that health care given to these prisoners is minimal, as is the respect for human rights. “We have to pray a lot, but we must also denounce these conditions, this must not only happen in Bolivia, a judiciary that is being manipulated by politics,” said the Archbishop of La Paz, “as a church we have a duty to demand this justice, an independent justice, a clean justice, a justice that defends the dignity and rights of every human being.
Archbishop René Leigue Césari of Santa Cruz de la Sierra also recalled the importance of persevering in prayer and trusting that God will answer requests in due time, even in a very difficult and complicated moment like this , which the Bolivians are experiencing right now. “Here in Santa Cruz we are on the brink of a strike to demand justice, to demand something that is not just for one region, it is not only for a few…” The Archbishop called for responsibility instead of “looking for someone to dump the problem to be solved” and to an “open and sincere dialogue without any conditions” in order to find solutions together. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 17/10/2022)
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Publish date : 2022-10-17 03:00:00
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