Venezuelan bishops warn against controversial laws

Caracas, Venezuela, Jul 10, 2009 / 18:06 pm

The president of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Ubaldo Santana, warned this week against two controversial laws being debated by the National Assembly on “gender” equality and education.
 
During his opening speech at the bishops’ 92nd Full Assembly, Archbishop Santana said the discussion in the country about the possible passage of the two laws “gives us the opportunity to re-examine in light of the Gospel, the Church’s Social Doctrine and new cultural tendencies in our society, issues that for the Church are of primordial importance.”
 
“The Church has something to say and a message to give about these issues,” he continued. “In fact they touch aspects and fundamental values of the organization of society and of human coexistence.”
 
The archbishop went on to note that the bishops’ bases their statements on the “principle of subsidiarity, the freedom and responsibility of parents in choosing the kind of education they desire for their children, on religious education in school, the centrality of the family and the dignity of human life.”
 
He also called on public officials both at the local and national level “to respect the right to work and for a just wage” and to accept the results of democratically held elections by not placing obstacles in the way of those who are elected to political office.