AMERICA/ARGENTINA - President of the Bishops' Conference: "Dialogue and agreements are necessary regardless of who wins the election"

Thursday, 10 October 2019 politics   poverty   social situation   episcopal conferences   elections  

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Buenos Aires (Agenzia Fides) - Under the current circumstances, dialogue is needed no matter who will rule after the presidential elections of 27 October. This is emphasized by the President of the Argentine Bishops' Conference, Bishop Oscar Vicente Ojea Quintana of San Isidro. The Bishop, who is participating in the Amazon Synod at the Vatican, commented on this subject before leaving in an interview with "Canal Orbe 21".
"I think, together with my brothers in the episcopate, that our country, regardless of the outcome of the elections, will need agreements", the Bishop said. "In this situation of social division in which we find ourselves, one cannot govern". Constructive Dialogue is "a great challenge", the Bishop said in an interview, "because a change of perspective is necessary".
"Here, the Church will surely have to do her part, at a time when we really have to engage in dialogue, to unite and to listen to the Argentines in order to preserve social peace", concluded the Bishop.
The President and Vice President of Argentina, the governors, the deputies and the senators will be chosen during the October 27th elections. The three main candidates for the Presidency are Mauricio Macri, Alberto Fernández and Roberto Lavagna. According to data collected by Fides, the most serious problem facing Argentina today is poverty. The official statistics of 2018, which the government has just released, show the extent of the problem: 32% of Argentines are poor, with an increase of 6.3% compared to the previous year. There are 2.7 million Argentines who have fallen below the poverty line in just one year. Of these, about 800,000 live in conditions of real poverty. The National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) found that the situation of the elderly is almost desperate.
The reason for this situation was the sharp 47% inflation - the highest in almost three decades - that devastated wages. To this we must add the sharp increase in the price of the American dollar, which indirectly caused the closure of many economic activities. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 10/10/2019)


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