The president of the Dominican Episcopate Conference and Archbishop of Santiago, Monsignor Ramon de la Rosa y Carpio, said yesterday that the Church will continue to protest the government’s handling of the country. The monsignor was referring to the role of the Church as defender of the people. He said Dominicans today feel impotent and do not know where to turn to denounce this mistreatment of the country. The priest was interviewed in Santiago by the press and he ventured an opinion on the newly-elected president of a PRD faction, Vicente Sanchez Baret, who said over the weekend that the bishops who oppose the government are trying to influence the will of the Dominican people. Monsignor de la Rosa y Carpio said that the bishops knew the criticism from the government would be forthcoming, after Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez spoke up against the government. He said that the comments of Sanchez Baret were but an old argument used by politicians. “We bishops have to speak out and we will continue to do so even if they do not pay attention to us. We will continue,” he avowed.
Monsignor Benito Angeles, secretary of the Dominican Episcopate Conference which gathers bishops in the DR, reaffirmed the Santiago bishop’s statement and that of the cardinal. He explained that the cardinal’s public statements encompass the opinions of the Catholic Church, saying that also that the Church does not have a party to defend, only the people, justice, peace, social harmony and the unity of all Dominican people. Monsignor Angeles said that in their most recent statements issued on 25 November 2003 and on 21 January, the bishops spoke of the dramatic situation affecting the country, the loss of quality of life, of the inflation that has staggered the Dominican people, the lack of control in the economy and the reasons for the recent strike. The Church has begun a new crusade, with the slogan: “It is time for everyone to hold hands. It is time for hope.”