Asunción, Paraguay, Aug 18, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Archbishop Pastor Cuquejo of Asuncion called on Paraguayans this week to be lights of hope in order to help move the country forward and said, “Paraguay suffers because it needs to hear the word of God and put it in practice.”

During his homily on the feast of the Assumption of Mary, the archbishop invited the faithful to journey with Mary so that all corruption and societal evils keeping the country down might be eradicated through clear thinking and firm decisiveness.

“Our country constantly suffers harm and therefore it needs the light that comes from our hope, which should not mean acquiescence, because the Church and the Lord will have the victory.  Our hope should be the dynamism of faith that leads to solidarity with others,” he stated.

During the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of the Assumption—the patroness of Paraguay—hundreds of Catholics accompanied the country’s famous statue of Mary in procession to the archdiocesan cathedral, where Mass was celebrated.

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