Roman Catholic Church priests took advantage of the Seven Last Words from the Cross sermon on Good Friday, 19 April 2019 to criticize the Medina administration’s attempts to modify the Constitution to enable reelection and other actions that priests say affect local institutions.
Earlier in the week, Santo Domingo Archbishop Francisco Ozoria had said the government was taking steps towards implanting a dictatorship. This remark came up again during the Easter Sermon. “I agree with, support and uphold the position of Archbishop of Santo Domingo Francisco Ozoria that they are leading us to a dictatorship,” said Salesian priest José Pastor Ramírez on Friday.
On occasion of the Good Friday sermon, priests expressed their concern for the present situation of justice in the country and the lack of respect for Dominican institutions. The present government was criticized for lack of respect for the Constitution, threatening the independence in government branches, lack of concrete actions and wasteful spending of government resources.
Evangelical churches also spoke up against pro-reelection efforts amongst followers of President Danilo Medina.
The Medina government has continued the tradition of investing heavily in church construction. Nevertheless, President Danilo Medina has clashed with the churches on his rejection of completely banning abortion in the country. This impasse has stagnated the approval of a new Penal Code in Congress. In the last sermon, the Roman Catholic Church priest Blas Bonilla Morfe concluded asking for each branch of government to keep its independence, strengthen democracy, that the guilty be condemned and the innocent released. He called for the spirit of Jesus is behind the struggle of the population against crime, corruption, impunity and citizen insecurity. And then he ended mentioning the struggle society has against femicides, poverty, injustice and abortion.
Read more in Spanish:
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22 April 2019