The Archbishop of La Plata (Argentina), Bishop Gustavo Carrara, who took possession of the Archdiocese on December 28, referred in an interview to various current issues: the integration of popular neighborhoods, the crisis in Argentina, and the always-awaited visit of Pope Francis to his homeland.
In dialogue with Provincial Radiothis Tuesday, January 14, the prelate admitted that “60 days ago I did not expect to be here in the Archdiocese of La Plata,” and acknowledged that he is “very grateful for the quality of the reception I am receiving.”
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The Gospel leads to living with joy and dignity
His contribution to the archdiocese, he assured, has to do with “announcing the joy of the Gospel,” which “leads to people also being able to live with joy, with dignity,” one of the keys to his ministry, marked by his attention pastoral to the Popular Villages and Neighborhoods. Currently, and since the last plenary assembly of the Episcopate, Bishop Carrara is president of Cáritas Argentina.
“A popular neighborhood is defined as a minimum of 12 families living in a place and they do not have land ownership, that is, they do not have a deed. Also, accessibility to basic services – water, safe electricity, sewers and others – is non-existent or very deficient,” he explained.
In La Plata, he pointed out, “there are a lot of popular neighborhoods,” where mainly children and adolescents live. In this regard, Bishop Carrara stated: “What does a little boy, a girl, a teenager need? In addition to the warmth and affection of his family, he needs a school nearby, a club, a space where he can develop his potential; “Young people need a first job.” For this reason, he emphasized the need to strengthen communities.
The answers cannot be either market-centric or state-centric.
“Strengthening community life is very important because the responses cannot be market-centric or state-centric, but rather have to be given by the communities themselves.”
The prelate considered that “strengthening the soup kitchens is not so that they remain forever but so that later that community can address other problems.”
“I know of direct experiences of community kitchens that are not part of the Catholic Church but rather arose from groups of neighbors who, in moments of greatest crisis, work essentially for food,” he pointed out, but “when that crisis subsides, it eases, and families begin to have jobs and no longer need the community kitchen so much, those same spaces already constituted as a small community shift their work towards school support, or are encouraged to start an early childhood center or even manage to interact with young people who have problems with consumption and are in street And not only do they feed them but they work to get them off the streets, I’m thinking about experiences that I know,” he deepened.
Mons. Carrara recognized two positive things about the management of President Javier Milei: the decrease in inflation, and the increase in the amount of the Food Card and the Universal Child Allowance (AUH). However, he pointed out that “if there is something that was abruptly defunded – and some are happening in a trickle or have practically come to a standstill – it is the policy of integration of popular neighborhoods,” that is, the sewer works, lighting, the construction of the curb-gutter, works in health centers.
The defunding of soup kitchens affects community organization
Asked about the State’s contribution with food for the soup kitchens, the prelate explained that Cáritas Argentina continues to receive food assistance from a United Nations program, that in soup kitchens run by popular movements, this aid was discontinued, “based on the preconception that there is corruption in all those places, with which I do not agree.”
“Yes, I agree that the dining rooms and all spaces make their reports and receive their supervision. That’s how it is: it has to be the same for everyone,” he stated.
Today, he observed, there are “many spaces that provided food that are no longer doing so. This also affects community organization, because community life is generated around these soup kitchens,” he said.
Pope Francis, friend of time
When referring to his recent meeting with Pope Francis, he expressed: “I saw him very very lucid, with a lot of capacity for work. That’s what I admired when I was in Buenos Aires: the issues that could be resolved in the day he didn’t stop solving. How he also knew how to be, so to speak, a friend of time! Initiate and accompany processes that could not be accelerated,” he said.
In this context, he referred to the Pope’s concerns and his invitation, in this Jubilee Year, “to discover what the signs of the times are and transform them into signs of Hope.”
Regarding Pope Francis’ long-awaited trip to Argentina, Bishop Carrara admitted: “I specifically did not ask him. Only God knows – he will also make his discernment – whether that trip is possible or not.”
“In my personal opinion, your visit would be a deep joy and a blessing for Argentina. If you have the spirit and, above all, the physical strength that you had, for example, to visit Oceania-Asia for 12 days, touring and cheering, if you have some of that energy, God willing that you can deploy it for the visit to Argentina ”, he longed.
Juliet Villar
I am a journalist, with a degree in communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non-governmental organizations. Since 2016 I have been dedicated to Catholic journalism, first at the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as ACI Prensa correspondent for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.