Mexican bishops mourn pilgrims killed in traffic accident

Quito, Ecuador, Aug 2, 2018 / 05:51 pm (ACI Prensa).- The National Assembly of Ecuador on July 31 unanimously upheld the right of parents to educate their children “in accordance with their principles, beliefs, and educational choices” without interference from the State in issues such as sex education.

The legislature’s gesture came in response to recent rulings by the Constitutional Court, including a June 27 decision which takes away “the protective authority of parents” and gives it to the state as the outside guarantor when considering the “rights” of minors “in education and sexual and reproductive health.”

Viviana de González, president of the Family and Future Foundation, said that the National Assembly’s 70-0 ratification of parental rights is supported by Article 29 of the Constitution of Ecuador as well as the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights.

“Although this political pronouncement by the legislative branch is not binding on the [recent] ruling of the Constitutional Court, it’s a clear response to the citizens’ public demonstration of a half million parents who took to the streets July 28 in more than 10 cities in the country,” she said.

The march was held in opposition to the government’s intention to impose gender ideology in education. It also demanded that any attempt to legalize abortion in the country be definitively shelved.

Demonstrators marched under the themes #ConMisHijosNoTeMetas (Don’t mess with my children) #EnfoquedeFamilia (Focus on the Family), #AmisHijosLosEducoYo (I’m the one to educate my children), and #SalvemosLas2Vidas (Save both lives).

De González said that the recent resolution by the National Assembly also urges the Constitutional Court and other state agencies to “protect parental rights, the family, childhood and adolescence.”

“Organizations such as the National Front for the Family will remain vigilant so that this resolution leads to concrete actions in support of the family in the different courts of the State,” she said.

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Salta, Argentina, Feb 6, 2020 / 02:27 pm (CNA).- The head of an indigenous ministry team in Argentina has called on Catholics not to be indifferent to the plight of suffering indigenous people, but to make an effort at outreach, encounter, and prayer.

“The indigenous reality is alien and distant, especially for those who live in the big cities, due to the great diversity and expanse of the national territory,” said Deacon Eduardo Bertea, a member of the indigenous pastoral team for the Diocese of Orán in Salta, Argentina.

Bertea spoke to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, after local media outlet Infobae reported last week the deaths of six children from the Wichí ethnic community due to poverty and malnutrition. The Wichí are an indigenous group in the Salta province in the country’s north.

Responding to the news, Salta governor Gustavo Adolfo Ruberto Sáenz declared a “social and health emergency” for six months, to prioritize initiatives in the areas of comprehensive health, identifying emergency cases, and undertaking actions to reverse this situation, according to local reports.

One of the major challenges facing the Wichí people is a lack of access to clean drinking water.

Government minister Ricardo Villada told local media that the government is working to assemble food packages, establish a water purification plant, and arrange for the construction of rainwater collection cisterns.

Deacon Bertea, who has 30 years of experience ministering to indigenous peoples, explained that the rainy season threatens the Wichís annually.

“The infrastructure is very shaky: there are bad roads, unreliable communications, no access to safe drinking water and unreliable health services. But this is nothing new, it happens every year,” he said.

Wichí communities face threats from new genetically modified crops, as farmland encroaches on their territories, Bertea said.

“They live under the constant threat of being evicted from their homes because the still don’t hold the title to these lands,” he explained.

Many of these communities also face discrimination and cultural separation from much of society, he added.

The Diocese of Salta’s indigenous people ministry seeks to promote the dignity of the Wichís and similar communities, the deacon explained.

“It seeks their recognition as children of God, going beyond government welfare,” he said, adding that the ministry seeks to “promote the recognition of the fundamental rights of these communities, for example water, a vital element; access to land and its natural resources; and that the indigenous are not treated as the object of welfare benefits, but that they’re listened to, that it’s a two-way conversation.”

Bertea invited Catholics in Argentina to get to know indigenous communities and to “recognize them as brothers, in imitation of the Virgin of Guadalupe, as she did with the indigenous Juan Diego.”

“All Christians are called to listen to the [indigenous peoples], to have an attentive ear and an open heart…to listen to their cries, their claims, their wisdom,” he said.
 

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ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 17, 2023 / 18:50 pm (CNA).
At least eight priests detained by the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua were reportedly transferred over the weekend to the prison called El Chipote, known a… […]