Credit: Reuters Ecuadorian bishops have denounced those who take advantage of the Covid-19 crisis to get rich fraudulently as a “very serious crime”.
In a declaration entitled ‘Crisis and hope’, the bishops stress that the “serious health crisis has highlighted the endemic defects of the State that have never been addressed in a clear and decisive way”.
The bishops’ message was published before the start of a new opening phase, following the restrictions adopted to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
A second phase allows the opening of the churches for personal prayer and the sacrament of reconciliation.
A new phase of “hope and reunion”, however, has left a “trace of pain and uncertainty” due to the health, economic, social and ethical crisis that the nation is experiencing.
All this, according to the bishops, has led to the State being “indebted and unable to fulfill its health, education, work and safety obligations”.
In the context of this fragility and mistrust, the Ecuadorian Church has urged all social, political and economic actors to face the present with “decision and transparency in the search for the common good” and to assume their responsibilities in a “clear, consensual and ethical way”, leaving aside personal or party interests.