Asunción, Paraguay, Jul 30, 2008 / 11:52 am
The Holy See has confirmed through the Apostolic Nunciature in Paraguay the loss of the clerical state of former bishop and President-elect Fernando Lugo.
In a statement released today and signed by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Giovanni Batista Re, the decree granting a dispensation from the clerical state for Lugo was made public. “His Excellency the Most Reverend Fernando Armindo Lugo Mendez, S.V.D., Bishop emeritus of San Pedro, requested dispensation from the clerical sate on December 18, 2006, in order to run in the elections for President of the Republic of Paraguay,” the decree states.
“The Holy See, after attempting to dissuade Bishop Fernando Lugo from running as a candidate for President of the Republic (cf. CIC can. 285&2), suspended him from the exercise of the priestly ministry,” the decree explains.
“The recent situation that has been created by the election of Bishop Fernando Lugo as President of the Republic of Paraguay,” the decree says, “requires that, for the good of the country and in order to clearly distinguish between the office of President of the Republic and the exercise of the episcopal ministry, the petition he presented requesting the loss of the clerical state be considered again.”