Costa Rican president says Christ is light that guides nation

San José, Costa Rica, Sep 17, 2006 / 22:00 pm

The President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sanchez, said last week it was time for Costa Ricans to “leave fear behind” and follow the path to which Christ calls them, with the certainty that Jesus is the “light that guides Costa Rica’s compass” and the Gospel the place where “the millenarian answer to all our questions lies.”

During the closing of the second annual Social Week, President Arias said that in a world in which people are seeking light in order to distinguish between good and evil, mankind “cannot trust that immense scientific and technological changes will automatically resolve the great dilemmas” of the day, when in practice “inequality on a global scale and misery continue to be incompatible with everything that people profess.”

In Costa Rica, he explained, where social inequality grows day by day, it is clear that “human dignity includes very concrete and real things such as: a place to live, food, work, security, good heath, education, transportation, recreation.”  Consequently, the president noted, the “formal promulgation” of rights is not sufficient and their exercise cannot be separated from the material conditions in which people live, because “poverty is not only an embarrassment for the poor person, but also for the person who has more than enough.”

Regarding the Social Week, which ended September 1st and was organized by the Archdiocese of San Jose, the John XXIII Social School and the University of St. Paul, President Arias said it was “a call to discover the true ethic of equality” and “a light in the storm, to find the port of peace and prosperity that our ship is seeking.”

He called on Costa Ricans to “take on this enormous challenge that comes from the Gospel, guided by of love and dignity and armed with courage and the will to be better.”