{"id":249503,"date":"2026-04-06T07:43:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/?p=249503"},"modified":"2026-04-06T08:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:59:08","slug":"catholic-church-shifts-to-spiritual-self-criticism-during-2026-sermon-of-the-seven-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/2026\/04\/06\/catholic-church-shifts-to-spiritual-self-criticism-during-2026-sermon-of-the-seven-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Church shifts to spiritual self-criticism during 2026 Sermon of the Seven Words"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Dominican Catholic Church delivered its usual poignant and introspective Sermon of the Seven Words (Serm\u00f3n de las Siete Palabras) on Good Friday, 3 April 2026, at the Catedral Primada de Am\u00e9rica in the Colonial City. List\u00edn Diario reported that this year\u2019s oratory marked a distinct shift from the confrontational social activism of 2025, pivoting toward spiritual self-criticism, a crisis of empathy, and the erosion of traditional family values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Church maintained its role as a social watchdog, the 2026 sermons prioritized internal reflection and the moral fiber of the nation over specific legislative or industrial disputes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key highlights from the Seven Sermons:
\u2022 First Word (“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”): Reverend Francisco Benito Alvarado Herrera offered a rare and public act of ecclesiastical self-criticism. He asked for forgiveness for times when the Church has been “better friends with the government official and the desk than with the sick, the elderly, or the immigrant,” noting that the institution at times becomes distracted by personal projects rather than the truth of Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Second Word (“Today you will be with me in paradise”): Father Mario De la Cruz Campusano addressed the widening economic divide. He contrasted the struggle of workers living on a minimum wage of RD$16,000 with the multi-million peso salaries enjoyed by high-ranking government officials, calling for a more equitable distribution of wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Third Word (“Woman, behold your son”): Shifting from 2025\u2019s focus on citizen security, Father Jos\u00e9 Rosado Acosta highlighted the dignity of women. He drew parallels between the suffering of the Virgin Mary and Dominican mothers who provide for their households alone while facing abandonment and violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Fourth and Fifth Words (“My God, why have you forsaken me?” and “I thirst”): The 2026 rhetoric focused on the plight of youth unemployment and the duty of politicians to serve the populace. This stood in contrast to the previous year, which centered on traffic accidents and the precarious conditions within the Dominican prison system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Seventh Word (“Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit”): The final sermon, delivered by Lourdes Mart\u00ednez Arc\u00e1ngel, served as a cultural critique. She lamented the destruction of family values, blaming “exported education” and the promotion of music with explicit content. This was a notable departure from 2025, when the closing plea demanded that femicides be declared a national emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparative analysis: 2025 vs. 2026
According to the List\u00edn Diario report, the 2025 sermons were characterized by “direct and confrontational” attacks on specific local issues, such as mining in S\u00e1nchez Ram\u00edrez and the Barrick Gold tailings dam. In 2026, however, the Church adopted a more “universal and spiritual” tone, focusing on the loss of empathy and the need for a collective moral awakening within the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario <\/a>
El Dia <\/a>
Diario Libre <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 April 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dominican Catholic Church delivered its usual poignant and introspective Sermon of the Seven Words (Serm\u00f3n de las Siete Palabras) on Good Friday, 3 April 2026, at the Catedral Primada de Am\u00e9rica in the Colonial City. List\u00edn Diario reported that this year\u2019s oratory marked a distinct shift from the confrontational social activism of 2025, pivoting … <\/p>\n

Read more\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[340,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249503"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249503"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249530,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249503\/revisions\/249530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dr1.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}