Argentina: President of the Episcopate encourages “seeing our brother in others”

Closing out 2024, the president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference and Archbishop of Mendoza, Mons. Marcelo Colombo, referred to the social situation in Argentina, the role of the Catholic Church and the 2025 Jubilee whose opening will be this December 24.

Recently elected to preside over the Argentine Episcopate, Bishop Colombo granted a interview with Vatican Newsin which he pointed out the social problems facing the country.

The Catholic Church: “Hand extended” to the poor

In the face of poverty, for example, the archbishop highlighted the work carried out by Cáritas as “a true hand extended by the Church to so many sectors of our population that are going through economic difficulty and even chronically for many years.”

However, he warned about economic policies that “restrict many of the possibilities we had to be able to provide this service,” due to the limitation of state programs and also because many people who collaborated with the service no longer have the same economic possibilities.

Regarding the role of the Catholic Church, he specified: “Naturally our strength is placed above all in volunteering and from there we try to maintain the integrity of that service.”

Along the same lines, he mentioned the work of Hogares de Cristo, the ecclesiastical addiction recovery device; and the pastoral work carried out with migrants and street people, a phenomenon in which there has been growth in recent times.

“When you walk through the streets of Buenos Aires, for example, you clearly perceive the number of people who are homeless, which was not usual a few years ago. It is not an issue of this last year and of this government, clearly, it is an issue that has been making more and more sense, more and more painful,” he lamented.

“We insist on the value of people,” he said.

Prevent gambling and limit the harm to young people

Another problem that is affecting Argentine society, according to the prelate, is gambling addiction, especially in young people. In that sense, he called to “encourage us to imagine prevention paths, because this is a phenomenon that is already acting dramatically in children over 15 years of age.”

Likewise, he mentioned the need to approve the bill presented in the National Congress, which seeks to regulate betting. “I hope it can be like that, there is no type of obstruction. The interests are great, painfully so. “They ignore the value of these children and their families and prefer profit,” he warned, calling for the need to “limit any form of harm to our young people.”

Heirs of the Pope, transmitters of hope

About to begin the Jubilee 2025, the first thing that Bishop Colombo highlighted was gratitude to God for the ministry of Pope Francis. “When we think about hope, we cannot do without his gaze, a paternal gaze, kind and committed to the good of all men.”

“We, heirs of that teaching, as part of that teaching, feel very involved in spreading it and making the Jubilee Year, that message of hope from Pope Francis reach all sectors,” he assured, emphasizing the need to “ to always put the Church in the place of service, in that place of the Samaritan, the Samaritan, who, when faced with the needs of men, takes charge, is not distracted, does not forget concrete people.”

Finally, the president of the Episcopate addressed the Argentines: “We have a wonderful country. Our Common Home in Argentina has exquisite gifts and possibilities for everyone to access, fundamentally I believe that as Argentines we are more than ever called to see our brother in the other, to put aside how much separates us, divides us, to stop “Search to blame to find reasons to continue living together, to continue building this homeland of brothers,” he encouraged.