Paraguay’s Congress responds to legalization of abortion in Argentina with a minute of silence

A group of migrants from South America crosses the Rio Bravo border between Mexico and the United States to request asylum. / Credit: David Peinado Romero/Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, May 5, 2023 / 16:00 pm (CNA).
Auxiliary Bishop Francisco J… […]

Chihuahua, Mexico, May 8, 2018 / 01:55 pm (ACI Prensa).- Bishop José Guadalupe Torres Campos of Ciudad Juárez, in Chihuahua state, Mexico, conferred the Sacrament of Confirmation on 15 inmates at the prison that Pope Francis visited in 2016.

The May 4 ceremony at the Social Readaptation Center No. 3. was organized by the prison ministry of Ciudad Juarez with the support of the prosecutor’s office.

The prison ministry helps prepare inmates who want to receive the sacraments of Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation.

Relatives were permitted to attend the ceremony. The Attorney General’s Office of the State of Chihuahua assured that the ceremony was conducted “under all necessary security measures and with complete respect for freedom of worship.”

The Attorney General’s Office also stated that “this type of activity” is carried out in accordance with the Law on Prison Sentences, “which provides that every inmate must be treated with dignity by the prison staff.”

During his trip to Mexico in 2016, Pope Francis visited the prison on Feb. 17. The pope said that the inmates “have known the power of suffering and sin,” and urged them to “not forget that you have available to you the power of the resurrection, the power of divine mercy which makes all things new.”

“Now you have to face the toughest, the hardest part, but which possibly may bear the most fruit, fight from within here to work to change the situations the create more exclusion,” he said.

“Work so that this society with uses people and throws them away will not go on claiming victims,” he asked them.
 

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

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La Paz, Bolivia, Nov 11, 2019 / 04:47 pm (CNA).- The Bolivian bishops have urged an end to the vandalism that has taken place following the resignation of president Evo Morales on Sunday.

Supporters of Morales have clashed with police in several cities.

In a Nov. 10 message, the bishops’ conference, along with several civic groups, encouraged “Bolivians to peace and to not commit acts of vandalism or revenge or anything we could regret. We all have a grave obligation to defend the lives of all Bolivians.”

They also pointed out that “what’s happening in Bolivia is not a coup d’état, we say it before all Bolivian citizens and the entire international community.”

“In the name of God we tell you: stop the violent acts and let us preserve life and the peace. Let us maintain the peaceful spirit that has reigned in the people in this time,” they said.

Morales resigned Nov. 10 after weeks of protest regarding a disputed Oct. 20 election. The socialist leader had been in power since 2006.

According to the electoral commision Morales won on the election’s first round, but the opposition claimed fraud. The Organization of American States said Nov. 10 that there was “clear manipulation” in the election, and that it was statistically improbable that Morales had won by the margin needed to avoid a runoff.

Within hours of the OAS report, Morales resigned, after being encouraged to do so by the head of the Bolivian armed forces.

In both La Paz and El Alto, Morales’ supporters have clashed with police, and more than 20 people have reportedly been injured.

The deputy head of the Senate, Jeanine Anez, has said she will serve as a caretaker president until elections are held.

Morales has been offered asylum by Mexico.

The Bolivian bishops and civil leaders said, “We call on the National Police and the Armed Forces of the nation to urgently fulfill their constitutional role in defense of property and people, preserving the lives and freedom of everyone.”

“We are all in agreement in proposing to the National Assembly of Bolivia a constitutional and peaceful solution in order to shortly have  constitutional president with the task of forming a new electoral tribunal and bringing us to new elections so that the entire people may express their opinion in freedom and peace,” they continued.

Luis Fernando Camacho, an opposition leader, reportedly placed a Bible on the Bolivian flag in the presidential residence after Morales resigned, saying, “Pachamama will never return to the Palace. Bolivia is Christ’s.”

Bishop Krzysztof Bialasik Wawrowska of Oruro spoke with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language sister agency, saying that when the news of Morales’ resignation came, “at that moment all the people gathered together to celebrate this fact, practically as a victory, because we were already living in a dictatorship and the people knew that they didn’t want to become like Venezuela.”

“At this moment there’s a big celebration in Oruro’s main square and they just called me to go there and pray and thank God for this grace of freedom that he has given us,” Bishop Bialasik said.

The bishop said Bolivia must “form an electoral tribunal as soon as possible for the new elections. This could take about three months to find the people, the leaders that can lead the country over the next few years.”

With these leaders, the Bishop of Oruro concluded, Bolivia may have “more hope, and also the life and dignity of people … may also be respected.”

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