Wednesday, July 18, 2012

A Marian Paraguay invokes the Pope

Paraguay:The Sanctuary of CaacupéThe final itinerary for the Pope’s trip to Brazil for World Youth Day 2013 has not yet been decided, but a part from Rio which is where the main celebrations will be held, a number of other destinations are being considered: Chile (a country tormented by natural disasters), Colombia (Bogota is home to the Centre of Latin American Episcopal Conferences even if the city’s altitude is hazardous) and Panama (though Benedict XVI already visited Central America on his last trip to the continent). 
Paraguay has also now become a possible destination for the World Youth Day event as the Organisation of American States (OAS) has softened its stance on Federico Franco’s government: a report by Secretary General José Miguel Insulsa pointed out a return to normality after the tensions in relation to the political judgement of the President of the Republic.
 
The second poorest American State after Haiti, located one and a half hours away from Rio de Janeiro, Paraguay is in great need of a few words of wisdom from the Pope, which can bring God back to the centre of people’s lives. 

The country, a cradle of Catholicism, is right in the heart of South America and is a land left fertile by the first Jesuit evangelization and. On the occasion of the Year of Faith, it is nice to think of Benedict XVI being present in the place where in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries missionary Jesuits evangelised the Indios (there are around 110 thousand of them today) and recreated cities based on the style and spirit of the first Christian communities.

It is also a Marian land: its capital Asunción (South America’s first diocese) is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and founded on 15 August 1737, with the city of Concepción to the north and Encarnación to the south. 

Worship of the Virgin Mary also takes place in the Sanctuary of Caacupé, where each year more than a million pilgrims go on 8 December, to faithfully maintain a promise. The history of the Sanctuary of Caacupé is significant: It was here that in 1600, native Indian José carved the effigy of the Virgin Mary who had saved him. 

In 2013 Benedict XVI could be received by two presidents: the one currently in power (Federico Franco, a Catholic pro-lifer who is sympathetic towards the Communion and Liberation movement) and the one who will be elected in April but will officially take up office in August: the President of the Republic will swear his oath to the nation on the feast of the Assumption. Unlike its neighbours, Argentina and Uruguay, Paraguay refused to legislate on certain non-negotiable values and principles which the Vatican regards as sensitive, such as same-sex unions.   

The Holy See breathed a sigh of relief when President Lugo was removed from office as it had been concerned about the country’s political axis with Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela.

The presidency of former bishop Lugo, whose candidacy had divided the local Church, would certainly not have favoured Benedict XVI’s visit. 

It is no wonder the Episcopal Conference had already asked for a visit by the Pope in 2011 on the occasion of the bicentenary of independence. 

Paraguay will also be celebrating two important anniversaries in 2013: the 25th anniversary of John Paul II’s visit, which according to a number of political scientists facilitated the abrupt removal the following year of dictator Stroessner and the 25th anniversary of the canonization of the Jesuit priest, Roque Gonzalez de Santa Cruz (who died a martyr in 1628) and the first Paraguayan saint; his experience links back to the Jesuit “reducciones” (reductions) missions, a historical and religious heritage which Joseph Ratzinger, as an academic, is very fond of.

At this complex time in their lives, Paraguayans are in need of a word of Christian hope, not just social promises; young people in particular expect to embrace the announcement of Matthew the Evangelist “Go, make disciples of all nations,” in this land of the first evangelisation.