Elections: before the pope, the bishops of Argentina asked the candidates "urgent solutions"

ROME.- When we meet today the

Pope

the third and last group of
visiting bishops
ad limitation – regions of NOA, central Cuyo and Patagonia – mentioned the October elections and asked that "the candidates" (national, provincial and municipal) "generously and creatively seek and propose the best solutions urgent and effective, reaching out to the most vulnerable to badist them in their emergency situation and to promote them in all their dignity. "

Francisco, who usually spoke about the country and that before another group confessed that
Polarization hurt him, encouraging prelates to "try to pacify hearts, so that ideologies do not end up hiding the truth or hinder the dialogue of those of us who are brothers in the same country," said the archbishop. San Juan, Jorge Lozano, who was spokesperson for the meeting.

Francisco encouraged the bishops to "try to pacify the hearts, so that the ideologies do not end up hiding the truth or prevent the dialogue of those of us who are brothers in the same country"

In a letter of greetings to the Pope, signed by Marcelo Colombo, Archbishop of Mendoza and Second Vice President of the Episcopal Conference of Argentina (CEA), the almost forty bishops of the third and final session of the traditional visit
ad límina, they also alluded to
the difficult reality of the country and the crucial

next elections in October.

"With you, we share the concern about the situation of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society," they said.

"We ask God to enlighten those who are candidates for the next elections of national, provincial and municipal authorities, so that they generously and creatively seek out and propose the best solutions, urgent and effective, that respond to the needs of the most fragile, badist them in the emergency and promote them in all their dignity, "they added.

Visit to Argentina

In addition, they reminded him that many faithful in Argentina "are waiting to
his visit to our country, although they understand his innumerable requirements in many parts of the world ".

In this regard, as during his meetings in recent weeks with bishops from the north-east, coastal regions and Platanians, who were part of the first group during the visit ad limo, and the province of Buenos Aires, which were part of the second, Francisco explained that I had "the agenda" this year. He explained that he had planned to visit Argentina by the end of 2017, while he was also traveling to Chile, but that eventually did not prosper. And he has again expressed his desire to travel, although there is no date yet. "We asked him" can you give us a date? "And he told us that this year no, certainly, because he has a complete program with trips abroad and that the door has been left open so that he can take it into account as soon as he could, in the context of other requests for visits to other countries, because it is his desire to come, "said Lozano, president of the CEA's Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral. "He has not indicated any specific date or year, but as soon as he can (I'm going to)," he added, before he "did not have a specific date or year," he said. a question from LA NACION is asked.

Beyond the caution of the prelates on a topic of great sensitivity, no one can exclude that the papal visit can take place next year. In their letter of greetings, the bishops recalled that on April 1, the 500th anniversary of the first Eucharist will be celebrated on the Argentine continent, in Puerto San Julián, province of Santa Cruz. A mention that feeds the speculations on a papal trip on this date, although there may be other options.

Although in the letter of greetings mentioning the October elections, with a request to the candidates to propose urgent solutions, during the two hours of the meeting, they did not talk about this, but pastoral questions and the country in general.

"We did not talk about the elections," Lozano said. He pointed out that neither the contested and recent decision of the Supreme Court nor the request for the beatification of Eva Perón made by the CGT were mentioned. "Yes, we talked about the situation of the country, the need to unite hearts, encouragement, to see how we overcome ourselves as pastors, to encourage spirituality to dialogue, to understanding, to mutual acceptance, to try to pacify hearts, so that ideologies do not end up hiding the truth or prevent the dialogue of those of us who are brothers in the same country ", declared the archbishop.

The intimacy of the meeting

As for the two groups of previous bishops, the meeting between compatriots – which took place in the library of the Vatican Apostolic Palace – was left out and there was no formalities . There was a lot of cordiality, fraternity and friendship, with several bishops sharing the same companion, the pope questioned everyone about their personal situation and "the two hours flew," said Lozano.

"We were able to raise many concerns, we talked about synodality, our concern for the poor and the pope encouraged us to continue the pastoral work that we do with them, with addicts, and encouraged us to listen, to dedicate attention to the poor as to the young, "said the prelate, noting that Francis recommended, as a central axis," prayer and the preaching of the Word ".

"In order to pray for him, one of the bishops asked the pope to share with us his joy and sorrow and, in his joy, he spoke of the" sanctity of the middle clbad ". that is to say, the number of people of good quality who do good things selflessly, with generosity, in silence and with pain, he told us that it had to do with resentment and gossip, when he sees in the life of the Church that some remove their leather, that they speak evil of others, it destroys, he told us. "In this regard, Lozano explained that when he left the Pontiff, he gave them a pamphlet entitled "Do not Speak Badly of Others", written by an Italian author who had made a prologue.

Asked about how they are confronted, as pastors, with the "anti-pope currents", another topic that was discussed, Lozano pointed out that it was a whole thing. quite normal and recalled that this had happened also in the time of John XXIII, Paul VI Paul II and Benedict XVI.

"Although many identify the Church as a pyramid where there is a decision and everyone respects it, on the contrary, it is an institution of dialogue, of fraternity, where dissent is accepted, it hurts when this dissent is charged. negative emotions, criticism that does not help revision, but disqualifies, "said the bishop. In this regard, Lozano, who knows Jorge Bergoglio since he was Auxiliary Bishop in Buenos Aires and CEA, stressed that "I have never heard him criticize who criticized him".

How did they see the pope? "I saw him very animated, very happy and with a very proactive spirit: when we asked him a negative question, he did not badume a spirit of complaint, but rather a spirit of proposal. told us that in the face of this, we do such a thing, that we pray more, see how to look for attitudes that overcome what hurts us ".