Pope Francis’ nod to the demand for classes in the Province

The Vatican Secretary of State responded to the request of the “Organized Parents” group regarding attendance in classes, inviting them to “Persevere in your goals” good. It establishes, according to the note, a condition of “proximity” with this representation which claims the defense of the right to education.

The Pontiff’s formality exhausts the epistolary route. It does so through the secretariat, in the area of ​​General Affairs and with the signature of the advisor, Monsignor Roberto Cona. In short, in the terms of the claim in support of the claim made at the time. But in an institutional channel with this recently created social group, caused, in its development, by the discontinuity of face-to-face courses in the province of Buenos Aires and other districts.

Document No. 534,660, dated Vatican General Affairs, is dated June 2. It reveals the ecclesiastical times that Pope Francis reserves for matters of seal and signature. The request for support came two days before President Alberto Fernández’s visit to Rome.

“In the letter, we asked him to intercede for us in the defense of the right to education of all children and adolescents across our country. In response, today we are happy to receive your response, which encourages us to persevere in our goals and blesses our families, ”the representatives of the petition group published on Monday.

“In this sense, we would also like to underline the declaration published (Sunday) by the Argentine Bishops’ Conference. In our line, he maintains that since March 2020, the Church “has understood and accompanied the provisions on the care of the life and health of all”. This is what we did too, we as parents, who for a whole year understood and followed government regulations but today we can no longer follow, ”the statement continued.

“General damage to children It’s catastrophic. This is also how the Argentine Bishops’ Conference sees it, when it declares in its press release that they cannot continue to support these new measures based on “arbitrary responses from the authorities or decisions based on personal opinion. of an official “. Society cannot continue to support arbitrary measures, when protocols have been respected and there is no scientific data to support the closures, ”they mention in another paragraph.

Without prejudice to the context, the place and the generalization of the words, the reference fathers cite a certain communion of ideas with Francis, expressed by the Pontiff two weeks ago in the Italian town of Codogno, in the north of the peninsula, with a course of students. There, he spoke of the long months of online education forced by the pandemic, which “penalized” student relations, according to papal sayings. And also with the teachers. At the time, he urged young people to learn from this “negative experience” by stressing that “the importance of the real interpersonal relationship, not virtual”.

“You, boys and girls, are children of the digital society, which has opened up new avenues of knowledge and communication, but now we know very well that there is a danger of closing in on oneself and always seeing reality through a filter. The speech, at the time, had another symbolic meaning: Codogno (north), was infamous for having been the “ground zero” of the pandemic in Europe, in February of last year.

The political struggle for the classes

It is not known how much of this question the Pope addressed during the private audience with Alberto Fernández. While the school year had started across the country with face-to-face classes, the president decreed the return to virtuality of the provinces most affected by the second wave of coronavirus.

The city of Buenos Aires was justice and the Supreme Court agreed with Horacio Rodríguez Larreta who managed to keep schools open in his neighborhood. In the suburbs, on the other hand, virtual classes continue.

This Monday, the chief of staff of Buenos Aires, Carlos Bianco, explained that “It would not be recommended to resume face-to-face lessons” according to the level of contagion recorded by the Province, despite the restrictive measures imposed by the national government ”.

“We have two weeks of falling cases, but it was a drop from a very high peak, of over 12,000, now we are at an average of 10,000, it has been reduced by 17%,” said declared the responsible.

Governor Axel Kicillof agrees. The fight with the City on this issue is conditioned by the proximity of the elections. 45 days after the presentation of the lists and candidates to the Electoral Council, there is a dynamic of establishing a discursive mark. Vaccination is an axis. The presence in schools another. A whole campaign in scaffolding while waiting for another overwhelming aspect: the economic and social crisis divided between partisan loopholes on both sides.

Decision in favor of the province

Including this tension with complex institutional issues. It has been a lavish day – to continue to lag behind in spirituality – in statements. The Supreme Court of Justice of the Province of Buenos Aires rejected an injunction presented by the parents of two girls who attend a school in San Isidro. The request was to resume face-to-face classes in the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires where they are taught virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ministers Luis Genoud, Daniel Soria, Sergio Torres and Hilda Kogan have ruled that the Supreme Court is not the original court to initiate the case, but that it must be presented to a court of first instance. Thus, the magistrates qualified the presentation of “impracticable”. The municipalities of Vicente López and San Isidro, ruled by Juntos por el Cambio, have also appealed to justice.

The letter from a month ago was signed by María del Rosario Perrone, Lucía Cristofani and María Lucía Lascombes, three of the members of this organization. The Vatican’s Return Now refers to these three people.