Jesuit who stood up to Paraguayan dictator dies

[Judi Lynn]

Jan 4, 2022
by Santi Carneri, Catholic News Service



Jesuit Francisco de Paula Oliva is pictured in a March 14, 2018, photo in Asunción, Paraguay. (CNS photo/Santi Carneri)

ASUNCION, PARAGUAY — After a life in Paraguay working in the poorest neighborhoods and training several generations of young leaders, Jesuit Father Francisco de Paula Oliva died Jan. 3 in Asunción. He was 93.

The Spanish-born Jesuit lived through the revolution in Nicaragua. He fought with words in the media against Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner and the Colorado Party. He was expelled to Argentina, was almost kidnapped and survived as a refugee in England and Ecuador until he returned to Paraguay.

. . .

Father Oliva, born in Seville Spain, joined the Jesuits in 1946 and, in 1964, he settled in Paraguay to work as a teacher. He became a Paraguayan national the following year, and a month later he was expelled by the Stroessner dictatorship. The police arrested him, put him on a boat and took him to the other side of the river, to Argentina. There he stayed for nine years, assisting Paraguayan and Bolivian migrants in Buenos Aires while under surveillance by the police and the army.

At the invitation of the Anglican Church, he was able to travel to England just when the military intended to kidnap him in the midst of the Argentine dictatorship. Two of his collaborators "disappeared."

More:
https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/jesuit-who-stood-paraguayan-dictator-dies

[Judi Lynn]

1. Paraguayans Cry Death of Spanish Jesuit Pa'i Oliva

Francisco de Paula Oliva holding a sign that reads, "We exist and we resist." | Photo: Twitter/ @RobertoOvelarM

Published 4 January 2022

“He took part in all the fights... His Eucharistic celebration in the Congress Squares in March 1999, which was carried out between bullets and fire, remains in history as a lesson in courage,” film director Marcelo Martinessi said.


Hundreds of citizens thronged the Cristo Rey Church to bid farewell to the Jesuit Francisco de Paula Oliva (Pa'i Oliva), an icon of Paraguayan social struggle who died at 93 in Asuncion City on Monday.

"Long live Pa'i Oliva!" and "Forever in our hearts" the people shouted as the coffin was transferred to the Santos Martires for the burial of his remains.

“He took part in all the fights. His example showed us that the body is a political weapon. His Eucharistic celebration in the Congress Squares in March 1999, which was carried out between bullets and fire, remains in history as a lesson in courage and as a memory for the future. Have a good trip, dear Pa'í Oliva,” film director Marcelo Martinessi said referring to the Spanish journalist who died in the neighborhood where he carried out his priestly work.

"Paraguay changed my social and political thinking," Father Oliva confessed in a 2015 interview in which he recalled his arrival in this South American country in 1964.

More:
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Paraguayans-Cry-Death-of-Spanish-Jesuit-Pai-Oliva-20220104-0007.html?utm_source=planisys&utm_medium=NewsletterIngles&utm_campaign=NewsletterIngles&utm_content=8