La Paz, Bolivia, Sep 17, 2007 / 09:05 am
A spokesman for Archbishop Tito Solari of Cochabamba, Bolivia, said last week that the prelate would not respond to recent attacks on the Church by President Evo Morales because as a man of peace, he desires reconciliation for all Bolivians.
Last Friday, Morales criticized the archbishop’s call for peace in the country. “Who is the Church to be asking for peace for peasants? They accuse us of seeking confrontation and violence. Peasants are humble and live in peace, but with social justice,” Morales said.
In response, Mariluz Bustamante, an official of the archdiocese, told the EFE news agency Archbishop Solari received the comments of the president “with humility,” although “some of his statements were unjust.”
Bustamante said the archbishop “is not a confrontational man” and that instead he desires “peace and reconciliation.” “He is a man of great peace, which allows him to take these kinds of hits,” she said.
The Church “will never cease to seek out peace and reconciliation,” she continued. “Neither will she cease in her preferential work for the poor.”