Elections in Ecuador: Cardinal asks peace, dialogue and respect for the democratic system

Cardinal Luis Cabrera, Archbishop of Guayaquil, asked that there be peace, dialogue, respect for the democratic system and the great ethical values, to combine efforts before the problems and challenges of Ecuador, which on April 13, Domingo de Ramos, elected its president.

In the second electoral round, the current president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, is facing the national democratic action movement; and Luisa González of Citizen Revolution, a group led by former president Rafael Correa.

In an interview with Ewtn News, the Cardinal invited the presidential candidates to “that the democratic system is first respected, since it is one of the fundamental characteristics of this nation, the democratic government, and everything that democracy implies: respect for great ethical values, spiritual values, such as justice, the issue of truth, of freedom, in such a way that people are welcomed and respected in their fundamental rights”.

Remembering the statement that Ecuadorian bishops They spread yesterday, Cardinal Cabrera encouraged to depose negative attitudes since “together they can also rely on the solution of the big problems, as we also point out, the issue of poverty, the issue of corruption, the issue of violence.”

“And to combine efforts so that this country can find the necessary, precise, appropriate solutions, and thus live as an Ecuador in peace, which is what we want so much, we aspire so much,” he added.

After renewing his call to dialogue, the archbishop asked to overcome “confrontation, polarization, disqualification” and “that there is a serene, objective, sensible environment, so that all political parties, movements, combine their efforts, their best proposals to the service of those great causes.”

Archive of the Freedom and Religious Equality bill

The cardinal also spoke of the recent archive of the Freedom and Religious Equality Law, which initially, said, was unknown to the bishops. “The most important question (of the prelates was) why they had not consulted us,” he said, considering the strong presence and work of the Catholic Church in Ecuador and that Catholics “still represent 60 or 70% of the population.”

According to the Ecuadorian newspaper Commercethe project sought “to avoid practices that can promote gender inequality or religious intervention in political and electoral processes”, so it considered as infractions “the association of religious institutions for political purposes” and “the use of religious spaces for meetings or acts of electoral campaign.”

The archbishop stressed that the Church does not oppose such a law, but stressed “that due processes are followed, where the participation of all institutions, of all religious organizations and movements is important, is taken into account.”

How to live Holy Week 2025?

Cardinal Cabrera also told Ewtn News that this Holy Week 2025 “is a great opportunity for us Catholics, really, to know a little more in Jesus’ life.”

“And knowing that although Jesus suffered and died on a cross, because he rose. And with his resurrection then it is very clear that life is above all forms of death, that love ends with all hatreds or resentments,” said the archbishop.

Finally, the Ecuadorian archbishop stressed that “Holy Week is a very special moment, very privileged to renew our faith, our hope in that Jesus who has given his life for us and that invites us to follow him to continue with this mission to announce the good news to so many people.”