Paraguay: Former Catholic Bishop Enters the Political Arena

[struggle4progress]

Alfred Seymour Hopkins
Worldpress.org correspondent
February 22, 2007

... Fernando Lugo, 52, the popular bishop of San Pedro, the country's poorest department, made public his decision to renounce his church ministry last December to collaborate in "the search for solutions to the country's problems." ...

For their part, conservative Catholic Church leaders accused Lugo of betraying the church's supposed non-political role in Paraguayan society, although more moderate and progressive churchmen rapidly rallied to his support ...

Lugo is a progressive-minded Catholic who worked with indigenous communities in Ecuador, where recently elected president, Rafael Correa, has maintained close contacts with the church's progressive-inclined "Theology of Liberation" tendency ...

Lugo's calls for "unity in diversity," and for a "clean up" of the political system, rapidly rallied the support of the numerous opposition groups in the country. His nonconformist proposals echo popular demands and include agricultural reform, reassertion of national sovereignty in the utilization of energy, opposition to the immunity of U.S. troops in Paraguay, and the possible naming of a woman as vice-presidential candidate ...

http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/2686.cfm