Argentines Urged to Rebuild a Nation Based on the Gospel

BUENOS AIRES, AUG. 26, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Argentina's reconstruction rests squarely on the shoulders of its own citizens, says a bishop.

Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Lozano of Buenos Aires presided over a Mass on Sunday at the end of a pro-life and pro-work march, reminding the faithful that it is up to responsible Argentines to rebuild their troubled nation.

"Why, if the majority of us are Christians, are there so many people who suffer hunger?" he asked. Why is there "so much lying and corruption?"

"We have a country that is so far from the Gospel -- a society that mistreats the poor, the sick, families and children," he said.

The march, with the motto "We Want to Be a Nation," began in the Shrine of St. Cajetan in Liniers, and ended in San Ramon Nonato of Villa Luro.

The auxiliary bishop told the faithful, gathered in the Shrine of San Ramon Nonato, patron of pregnant women and the unborn, that the march is "an attempt to overcome [the crisis], to reconstruct the homeland." He urged them not to be indifferent "to falsehood and truth."

Such a reconstruction, he said, requires that the foundation "stone must be the teaching of Jesus," and must be grounded "on moral and religious reserves."

This task "will not be done by extraterrestrial beings or foreigners, but by ourselves, by assuming concrete commitments every day," he said. "We must choose to live as God ordains, seeing Jesus in every brother, or live as others ordain."

During the march, the faithful prayed "for the dignity and life of those of us who are without a job, for those of us to have a job but forget to celebrate life."

They also prayed so that "salaries will be just and sufficient to live with dignity," and to rediscover "the values that were snatched from us: solidarity, respect, the common good, honesty and happiness."