In a social and religious fact, and which will also have interpretations of a political nature, Córdoba will be the epicenter of the national movement of the group that within the Church brings together the so-called “Priests of popular neighborhoods and towns of the country.”
Next Thursday, in the chapel located in the Villa Angelelli neighborhood, run by Father Pablo Viola, a mass will be held that will have as its symbolic closing the sharing of a popular pot.
Viola is one of the priests from Córdoba enrolled in this group of religious who work in vulnerable sectors and who in recent weeks have raised their voices in the face of the growing demand for help registered in their parishes and the strong controversy that was generated after it was known that the national government had stored and without delivering food close to expiry.
Along with La Matanza, in Buenos Aires; La Banda, in Santiago del Estero, and other representative points of the country, Córdoba will host a Church action that aims to support the work of women who work in social organizations, soup kitchens and picnic areas and who have been targeted by the Government within the framework of audits of the Ministry of Human Capital by Sandra Pettovello.
“We have decided to recognize the women who continue to fight in this difficult context. During the pandemic we said they were heroines and now we treat them as thieves. “That is the contradiction in which we constantly fall,” Father Viola assured The voice.
The move in Villa Angelelli has the support of the Archbishop of Córdoba, Ángel Rossi. It will be the cardinal and highest authority of the Church in the province who will officiate the mass and leave his message when presenting the homily.
Although it is not confirmed nor are there any invitations issued, it is not ruled out that politicians may participate in the mass at Villa Angelelli. “There are no invitations, but whoever wants to come has the doors open,” said Father Viola. The capital’s mayor Daniel Passerini could be part of the game. “If they invite us, we will gladly be there,” they said near the municipal chief. Father Mariano Oberlin, a reference in the San Vicente neighborhood and close to Passerini, will participate in the activity.
In Santiago del Estero, Father “Pepe” Di Paola, who has good dialogue with former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, will lead the mass. While the head of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Oscar Ojea, will preside over the central ceremony next Wednesday the 19th at the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Caacupé, in La Matanza. In addition, there will be replicas in the cities of Mar del Plata and Salta.
The village priests assure that the action is in defense of the “Mothers of the Nation”, in reference to the women who work in the canteens and who, these religious assure, “were accused of stealing or selling food.”
Political impact
Both the archbishopric and the organizers are aware that the move will have political connotations. The Church has been forceful about its public position regarding the deepening of the social situation and, in particular, regarding the issue of food stored by the Government.
“I don’t go into the reasons why they are stored, but I think that in a time of food emergency this should call us to reflection and they have to be delivered quickly,” Ojea expressed days ago in a video.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis has also sent messages and gestures in recent days that directly involve him. There are others who have his permission. These movements are monitored by President Milei’s management. For example, it fell very badly on the national government that in the Cathedral of Buenos Aires, a few meters from the Casa Rosada, the Buenos Aires archbishop, Jorge García Cuerva, in direct line with Francisco, has set up a dining room to assist the poor.
The Undersecretary of Press of the national Government, Javier Lanari, spoke of “selective sensitivity” of the Church with poverty depending on whether Peronism or another political force governs.
Nor did it go unnoticed by the national administration that Francisco granted a photo in the Vatican to a group of aeronautical unionists on the same day that the privatization of Aerolíneas Argentinas was voted in the Senate.
Although fortuitous in the temporal coincidence with the sanction of the Bases Law, the private audience that Jorge Bergoglio granted this week to the Buenos Aires governor Axel Kicillof, the main opposition leader to the government, was also read in a political key by those close to the President.
Milei and the Pope met on Friday in Italy at the G7 summit. They greeted each other cordially, although there was no bilateral meeting because the Government did not request an interview with the Supreme Pontiff.
“The Government is not interested in social justice”
Father Viola expects a good turnout on Thursday, at 11, in his parish. “Priests will come from other neighborhoods and we will end up with a shared soup kitchen,” said the religious, who assures that “there is a growth in need linked to basic issues such as food.”
For the priest, “there is an increase in demand due to the situation and because there are other dining rooms in the area that have closed.” “They are coming closer and closer to asking for food and seeking help from the soup kitchens. “That is something evident that anyone can see if they walk through these neighborhoods,” he stated.
Viola assured that the mass that Archbishop Rossi will officiate is to “recognize the women who continue to fight in this difficult context.” And she added: “Even though they have stopped receiving funds, they take from where they do not have to continue supporting small spaces of pots and dining rooms. This is not an action against anyone, but rather a recognition of those who collaborate with those who have less. During the pandemic we said they were heroines and now we treat them as thieves. That is the contradiction in which we permanently fall.”
Viola referred to the situation surrounding the controversy over food not delivered by the Government. “There is a strategy to justify mistakes. It is unjustifiable to have food stored when people are having a hard time and are hungry. There is no basis, there is no reason for this or other issues,” she said in a critical tone.
Regarding the role of the Church in this stage and the questions that the Pope receives, Viola noted: “Francis does not act from an ideology, but from the gospel and from the social doctrine of the Church. And there is no need to get angry about that. They seek to establish that the Pope has one ideology or another with the aim of stigmatizing and wanting to install something to discredit, to not listen. And what ends up happening when you don’t listen is falling into tremendous irrationality.”
And he added: “The Church has a diversity of conceptions, but it has a very clear reference that cannot escape it, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the social doctrine of the Church. The Government is very little interested in this issue. We have heard that for them social justice is something irrelevant and above all something that threatens progress. “These are not inventions of Francis or the Church, that is what they openly say.”
