Eradication of poverty should be priority during bicentennial, says Argentinean bishop

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jun 7, 2010 / 12:39 pm

In an interview last week the president of the Bishops’ Committee for Social Ministry, Bishop Alcides Jorge Pedro Casaetto, called on Argentineans to “promote comprehensive development” as the “key to eradicating poverty” in the country. This should be a priority for leaders as they mark the country’s Bicentennial from 2010-2016, he added.
 
The bishop made his comments in reference to the Mar del Plata Social Week, which will take place June 25-27 under the theme, “Consensus for Comprehensive Development.”
 
The purpose of the Social Week is to “continue working on the priority of the 2010-2016 Bicentennial to eradicate poverty and promote comprehensive development.  This great cause of justice and social inclusion is the fundamental mission,” he said.
 
“The bishops of Argentina have proposed that this be a national priority in our document, ‘Towards a Bicentennial in Justice and Solidarity,’ and in the Aparecida document,” he added.
 
Asked about what is necessary to achieve a consensus, Bishop Casaretto said it must be achieved by addressing those who suffer most and who expect action “from all those who have been given political responsibilities.”
 
“These six years of the Bicentennial can be a great opportunity, a time of conversion for growing in social awareness and in an authentic culture of justice, solidarity and the just distribution of wealth,” he remarked.
 
Bishop Casaretto said he hoped the participants in the Social Week would embrace the eradication of poverty in their hearts, minds and actions, thus inspiring the country’s leaders to prioritize the comprehensive development of the individual and society, awakening new vocations to social and political work, and recovering the value of health activism.”
 
“The leaders of the Bicentennial will be those who make service to neighbor and the common good a priority,” he said.