Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Roma (Agenzia Fides) - On Monday 26 November in a telephone message from Rome where he was taking part in the Consistory, Cardinal Julio Terrazas, Archbishop of Santa Cruz and president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Bolivia, expressed his solidarity to the people of Bolivia and to all his brother Bishops who are working to promote peace in Bolivia at this time. In the message the Cardinal expressed deep concern for the situation and episodes of violence in which 300 people were injured and 3 were killed (see Fides 26/11/2007). "As your Bishop and as a Bolivian I am close to you all, especially those who suffer most in this situation" said the president of the Bishops' Conference.
"It is not easy to speak of peace in the middle of conflict, or worse still, when there are some who encourage and applaud this conflict - said Cardinal Terrazas -. However there is no other word which can straighten the paths of pain and death". The president of the Bishops' Conference said this peace must be "the foundation of love and reconciliation, intrinsic with justice, truth and freedom, incentive for dialogue and for finding solutions to the human problems which grip our country".
Then the Cardinal called on all Bolivians to take care of the soul and the heart, “because new sentiments and attitudes must come from the heart. He ended the message with a powerful call: " In the name of the God of life I urge you to stop the race to the precipice of hatred and rancour to which they have pushed our nation. It is time to heal the lacerated tissue of our country, the time to health wounds to lay the basis for a peace rich in justice". (RG) (Agenzia Fides 28/11/2007; righe 19, parole 290)
