Archbishop of Panama: It is essential

The Archbishop of Panama, Mons. José Domingo Ulloa, said that “it is essential to look for paths of peace, dialogue and listening”, to end the violence of the clashes and protests that for more than a month have plunged Panama in a serious crisis.

“Now, more than ever, it is essential to look for paths of peace, dialogue and listening. Between brothers we are facing, we are chasing ourselves, and in this crisis we are all losing. We do not see the dialogue as a weakness, but as a sample of maturity and love of the country!”, Exclaimed the prelate in the homily of the Mass that presided over the jubilee of the families in the Omar Recreational Park on June 1.

Protests in Panama

The protests in Panama, which have been more than a month for more than a month, constitute one of the most serious social crises in the Central American country in decades.

Those arose in response to the reform of the pension system, which many consider a threat to their pensions for the future. Another point is the possible presence of military from the United States, linked to the Panama Canal and has to do with national sovereignty.

A third point where the protests have been given has been the dismissal of some 5,000 workers of the company Chiquita Panama After a strike in their banana farms, generating millionaire losses. And a fourth point has been corruption in state institutions.

In this context, various institutions have denounced excesses of the police in the repression of protests, especially against indigenous people who have also joined the mobilizations.

Called to reconciliation

Mons. Ulloa also regretted “the anxiety, the disagreement that we live in these days for the arrogant sufficiency of which he does not listen, which turns his back on the legitimate aspirations of the people”, as well as “the ease with which some forget that the path of peace necessarily goes through disarming the heart, by turning the swords into plows, without hurting democratic coexistence and the life of communities.”

“There are already too many fragmentations and wounds for the violence of an exclusive system so that we add new ruptures. We are family, we cannot self -destruct ourselves. It is urgent to tend bridges, open ourselves to active listening, and bet on peace,” he said.

“As a father and pastor I want to express my brothers and my sisters in faith that, the best way to find paths of peace is reconciliation. This is the best way to heal fractured relationships and broken hearts.”

In that sense, the archbishop made “a vehement call to cease violence, that the violent lower their arms and stop assaulting their brothers and sisters, because that will never be the way to achieve peace and social justice.”

The Church lives in every father and mother who prays for their children

In his homily, sent to ACI Press by the Archdiocese of Panama, the prelate explained that “from its origins the family is the first place where hope is sown, where you learn to love, to believe it and to trust. With a firm conviction we proclaim: ‘Christian, the church is you’, and we add: the church is born in your home.”

“The Church lives in every father and mother who prays for their children, in every husband who takes care of his wife, in every grandmother who transmits faith, in every child who thanks and honors his parents. Being pilgrims of hope is also to be family builders, which is more urgent than ever.”