'Without unity, poverty will continue to be a reality that humiliates us,' warned the Church

Sergio Rubin

04/04/2021 11:19

• Clarín.com

• Politics

Updated 04/04/2021 11:19

In an Easter message, the president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Oscar Ojea, warned this Sunday that "without unity to face the pandemic and recover the economy there will be no other shore and

poverty will continue to be a reality that humiliates and shames us.

" .

Monsignor Oscar Ojea insists with a request from the Church that is repeated before the crack.

Ojea's recommendation came after INDEC released on Wednesday the poverty data corresponding to the second half of 2020, which showed a percentage of 42%, that is, 19 million Argentines are poor and 10.5% are indigent. ;

that is, 3 million.

Already at the Mass on Holy Thursday, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Mario Poli, had considered the percentage of poor people "humiliating" and the number of indigent children and adolescents "alarming", since the INDEC also revealed that almost six of each ten minors are poor in the country.

Through his Twitter account, Ojea said that this Sunday “Christians celebrate that Christ has risen;

Easter renews us in hope.

It is light that illuminates the time that we have to live.

It illuminates this hour, where more and more Argentines live in poverty, and where

the pandemic hits us again hard

”.

"May this hope encourage all of the social, political, union and business leadership to seek unity to take care of life and recover an economy that generates work for Argentines," he said.

He then underlined: "It is time for unity in diversity to respond to the situation and make decisions by looking at the faces of the men, women, boys and girls who are suffering."

"It is time - he added - for greatness of spirit and to overcome the temptation to set our sights on our own interests or follow the logic of confrontation and division."

In that sense, he warned that "without unity to face the pandemic and recover the economy there will be no other shore and poverty will continue to be a reality that humiliates and shames us."

"This is the time for us to renew the responsibility of health care because we value and care for everyone's life," he added.

And he prayed: "Lord Jesus, we ask you for all those who have to live the mission of being leaders in this hour, that we can realize the gravity of this time and live up to what is being asked of us."

"May hope encourage us in our commitment to the present," he concluded.