Evo Morales, Francisco and the Bolivian Church: Friendships and rejections on the way to the election

Relations between Evo Morales and the Bolivian Catholic hierarchy are not the best and he has spoken in various circumstances in favor of the result of the referendum of 2016 is respected, in which a majority of Bolivians voted against the constitutional reform to qualify the candidatures of the president and the vice-president.

Frictions with the Catholic authorities have been constant in the 14 years of the Morales government. Although the tone of the ecclesiastical hierarchy seems to have moderated in recent months, last week The Bolivian Episcopal Conference, through the Assembly of Bishops, issued a statement recommending transparent elections. "You can not accept the control or the manipulation of the votes as an instrument of power … A true democracy gives to the government a legitimacy resulting from a transparent electoral process and from the inviolable respect of the decision of the Bolivian people, "the recent statement said.

The bishops' public intervention comes a week after the Bolivian cardinal Toribio Ticona April 29, during a meeting with the peasant federation Bartolina Sisa, linked to the government, its support to the president. "Wherever we have to go with President Evo Morales, we must not just talk, we have to work together, we have to go together," he said in Quechua. first indigenous cardinal in the history of Bolivia, which was invested last year by the Pope in the Vatican, with the unprecedented presence of the Bolivian head of state.

As in previous demonstrations where Ticona was demonstrated near Morales, the authorities of the Bolivian Episcopal Conference came forward to quickly clarify that his position was personal and did not reflect that of the Church. "Cardinal Toribio Ticona has expressed the opinion that we consider his opinion, that we respect it and that is peculiar to a person, as each of us has a position. His statement does not frame the opinion of the Conference of Espiscopal, with the exception ofBut of course we respect him, "Bishop Eugenio Scarpellini, Bishop of Al Alto, one of the ruling party's ruling towns, told Bolivian media.

But Ticona's affinity with Morales has been tempered by some shifting statements. Last December, when the controversy surrounding the empowerment of the Bolivian state leader for the elections of October 2019 intensified, he said that even though he was not part of the presidential party, Evo was his friend. In the same intervention, the cardinal said that Bolivia "is better", now than before, but that political fights can lead to ruin. "At the end, I do not agree that you govern"said the cardinal.

Since the beginning of his administration in 2005, the government has run into Catholic hierarchies. The new constitution, promulgated in 2009, declared that the Bolivian state was secular and stopped considering the Catholic as the official religion of the country.in which at least 80% of the inhabitants would profess this creed. Since then, the MAS has liberated the predominance of Catholic rituals from official and festive events. It even stimulates in them other traditional practices stemming from religious syncretism. On April 10 of this year, the law on freedom of religion, organizations and spiritual beliefs was also promulgated, which in a way neutralized the hegemony of the traditional Catholic Church.

The president himself declares himself Catholic, but not vice-president Alvaro García Linera, who defines himself as a revolutionary Marxist. Both have constantly criticized the Catholic hierarchy. Clashes with the first cardinal born in Bolivia, the late Julio Terrazas, one of those who criticized the Morales government, and Msgr. Tito Solari, who had formerly denounced in Cochabamba the use of children for drug trafficking, are well known.

The two leaders tried to note that the differences did not occur with the priests of the base, but with the Catholic hierarchy.. The taxation of religious works and the design of educational changes, in which Catholics have a historical contribution and influence, have also been at the root of conflicts. At times of his management, Evo Morales said that heThe Church was "an instrument of domination" and encouraged a change that leads more to a "pachamamista" vision of religion in Bolivia.

The tensions with the priest Mateo Laura, recalled by the budget allocated by the government to the health, also caught the attention. The religious led a move to get 10%, which hindered the decision. Now, Mateo Laura is no longer in Bolivia.

The moment of the greatest verbal confrontation occurred when the bishops interrogated the Supreme Electoral Tribunal for the authorization of the candidature of Evo Morales, despite his defeat in the referendum of 21-F. In response, the Vice President stated that the Church should stop doing politics and dedicate itself to "salvation of souls".

Do not "mutilate" the Church

"Asking the Church not to get involved in politics at large, is asking her to mutilate her mission in the world."he said to Infobae Juan Carlos Velásquez Silvestre, responsible for formation and advocacy of the pastoral Cáritas Boliviana. He explained that the mission of this institution was not only the preaching or the celebration of the sacraments, but also the service of people in poverty.

He recalled that the Second Vatican Council established that politics was of interest to the Church and that it had the right to promote it without being confused with the party's options.

In the presidential election of October and the recent message of the bishops, he explained that he insisted on the quality that should have the process. "It must be characterized by the conscious, free and responsible voting of citizenship".

Referring to the position of the cardinal, who supports Evo Morales, he said that the population should differentiate Ticona is emeritus or retired and does not hold posts in any diocese or the Bolivian Bishops' Conference, thus, his word has no official character. "The cardinal enjoys the gratitude and gratitude of his brother bishops and the ecclesial communities in which he served, and no bishop is forbidden, in his personal capacity, to be near or to show human sympathy to the authorities. The problem is whether the apparent proximity is politically and partisanly exploited, and the cardinal deserves the attention he deserves not to be used, "he added.

He also said that it was a "malicious device" that some authorities describe as hierarchical or fundamental to the Church, since it is one and in communion. "It would be desirable for persons or authorities who divide it to have minimal catechesis, in order to avoid bold and misleading evaluations."

Regarding the respect of the results of the February 21 referendum, he insisted that the Church, or any institution or person with a well-formed opinion, should request that the vote be respected, regardless of any instrument. international.

They are worried about the truth post

From Santa Cruz de la Sierra, he also spoke with Infobae on elections, the spokesman of the Archbishop of Santa Cruz, Erwin Bazán. "We are concerned about the growing use of so-called post-truth as an electoral strategy that only legitimizes lies in favor of political interests. The bishops also asked to avoid clashes, attacks, slanders and insults from each other, as they spoil the countryside. It is necessary to guarantee a series of criteria to give people the certainty that their vote will not be manipulated, "he said.

In the same vein, Velasquez said that it was time for the authorities to understand that bishops have not only the right, but also the obligation to engage in politics, as this is part of of their mission. "It's an old totalitarian charge," he said.

He also stressed that it is fair to recognize that the Catholic Church was one of the first institutions to establish its unanimous and powerful position to defend the referendum will of February 21, 2016.

Friendship with Pope Francisco

Having failed to calm the Catholic authorities, Evo once resorted to the Vatican to claim the supposed "political action" of the bishops. The relationship began to evolve steadily at this level, especially with the election of Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio as pope.

Francisco played a leading role during a historic visit to Bolivia under the Morales government in 2015, with which they manifestly manifest a remarkable mutual sympathy, to the point that Evo Morales calls him "Brother Papeand those who meditated their activism with the theology of liberation.

Both met at least five times, some in the same Vatican, and good relations manifested themselves in different ways. One of the last revealing signs of the Pope's constant eye on Bolivia was the appointment in 2018 of the first indigenous cardinal, Toribio Ticona, close to Evo Morales and highly appreciated by him for his ethnic background and his modest origin.