Argentinean cleric questions whether Argentina has Christian culture

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jun 14, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The Apostolic Administrator of Resistencia, Argentina, Msgr. Carmelo Giaquinta, said this week, “It is difficult to say we are a culturally Christian people” because despite the massive expressions of devotion, the country is submerged in “unsolvable problems” due to neglect of the faith in daily life.

Msgr. Giaquinta noted that Argentina could be called culturally Christian if “one were to go by the massive pilgrimages” to the country’s different Catholic shrines, but not if one considers the protests that cause harm and injury to others in the name of “defending our fundamental rights.”

“It’s not my purpose here to judge every single act of protest,” he stated. Nevertheless, he explained that the faithful need to “find other ways of protesting that are more in tune with the Christian faith and do not cause harm to others.”

Likewise, Msgr. Giaquinta criticized those who sit by and watch the moral deterioration of society and do nothing about it.  He noted that the “Catholic majority” gets all upset when it is said that television airs the programs that the people want to see. And yet, “nobody is capable of picking up the phone and complaining to the channel directors.”

Argentina is in need of political, educational, social and judicial reform, he said, but above all, “There is a need for profound moral renewal regarding the social comportment of all citizens and social groups,” because without it, everything else is useless.