Uruguay: Contributions of the Catholic Church to the 2024 presidential elections

A little more than two months before the presidential elections in Uruguay – they will be held on October 27 – the Catholic Church is promoting a program that seeks to generate spaces for dialogue with the candidates, offering its contribution in different areas.

The “Church in Dialogue” space is made up of members of the Permanent Council of the Episcopal Conference of Uruguay, the Archdiocese of Montevideo, the Uruguayan Association of Catholic Education, and Cáritas Uruguay.

Its proposal is to contribute to finding paths “towards the recomposition of the social fabric,” which contribute “to the collective construction of a more fraternal and integrated society,” while respecting singularities, the organizers say in a statement with which they present the space.

In this framework, they hold meetings with the presidential candidates, led by the Archbishop of Montevideo, Cardinal Daniel Sturla. So far, the candidates Andrés Ojeda and Guido Manini Ríos have participated in the space. The next meetings will be with Álvaro Delgado and Pablo Mieres.

The intention of the Catholic Church, they indicated, is to share with the candidates “experiences and reflections” around different key issues – such as health, education and housing – and in the face of future challenges, “whatever the result of the electoral body,” they explain.

These experiences arise from the work of the Catholic Church in socio-educational and assistance programs, with a focus on the most vulnerable sectors. It is a trajectory marked by “encounter, recognition and service in the territory”, with the learning acquired from it, they add.

In this framework, the candidates will be given a document titled Contributions for Uruguay, which contains information on different initiatives of a social nature, in which the Church works with people on the street, in formal and non-formal education programs, work with prisoners, addicts, women and families.

The document also exposes, among other initiatives, projects dedicated to offering housing, others aimed at people with disabilities, migrants, and tasks related to caring for the environment, care in the area of ​​mental health, and work with older adults.

“Church in dialogue” also seeks to recover the ties between the Church and the State. “Ignoring our institutions can seriously break a bond that is historical and very rich,” they say from the Catholic Church.

“In this political reality that is Uruguay, Christians are called to commitment and the first of them is to build bridges today so that society does not fragment politically,” they point out in the statement.

They also make a call to build “a more integrated community” that welcomes “the brothers who live in situations that tend to marginalize them,” and that “provides opportunities to all its inhabitants, not only economic or work-related, but also for personal fulfillment, of a life full of meaning, of free and responsible people with the aim of leaving their mark of good in their passage through the world and of being open to transcendence.”