Church in Bolivia worried, but remaining optimistic about Morales government

Jan 19, 2007 / 08:52 am

Fr. Freddy del Villar, Vicar General of the Coroicu Diocese in Bolivia, said that while the Church there remains vigilant regarding the government of Socialist President Evo Morales, they are reserving judgement on the newly revised constitution.  “The Church is worried, but at the same time optimistic about the new constitution the Morales government is preparing,” Fr. del Villar said during a Jan. 18th visit to Aid to the Church in Need headquarters.

“Obviously, the party of Evo Morales is socialist: For example, it says it wants to have a non-confessional education, or that religion is not important. But let us see what comes out of the new constitution when it will be finished in August,” Fr. del Villar said.

For the Church, human rights, justice for all, and help for the poor are the essentials of a new constitution, del Villar added. “The Church helps to maintain unity in the country,” he said referring to current movements trying to disintegrate Bolivia’s unity.

“For me,” he added, “the biggest problem that my country has, is that it does not have access to the Pacific sea.”

The Catholic hierarchy has previously spoken out against Morales’s attempts to remove religious education from the overwhelmingly Catholic country and to legalize abortion.