During mass yesterday at the Olympic Stadium, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Santo Domingo, Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, called out to Dominicans to honor the memory of Dr. José Francisco Peña Gómez by voting in the 16 May elections. Peña Gómez was the leading opposition party’s candidate to mayor. "Let the people decide who will make up Congress and who will guide the municipal affairs in the provinces," said the leading representative of the Roman Catholic Church in the DR. "His death has occurred in the same week as the elections. It is apparent he wanted to leave this world with his boots on, fighting until the end, overcoming the sickness that had sapped his strength, and in full exercise of his political vocation. "Few will emulate him in his firm purpose that democracy be consolidated here. The Dominican people will know how to preserve with zeal and care this patrimony that so much hard work and sleepless nights has cost. "We are before the corpse of a man who from the most humble origins grew to become a figure of more than national dimensions, a worldwide leader, who made friends and fostered relationships with the great players of the world in the past 30 years. Also officiating the mass were Monsignor Agripino Núñez Collado, the Bishop of Higuey, Monsignor Ramon de la Rosa y Carpio.
