Honduras, a Church full of hope. The Church in Honduras faces many problems, like steadily increasing poverty, but it is a Church that is full of hope, with a very active laity. Honduran Cardinal Oscar …More
Honduras, a Church full of hope.
The Church in Honduras faces many problems, like steadily increasing poverty, but it is a Church that is full of hope, with a very active laity. Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga speaks about the Church in Honduras.
"But the thing that's going to grow the Church is a growing clergy. It's a young Church, a Church full of life with a lot of lay participation. There are only 417 priests, but we have more than 30,000 lay people who are active in ministering the Word of God. And little by little the number of vocations is growing. Logically, there are problems, one of the biggest of which is poverty. Sadly, poverty is growing because we need to import gas. We also need to import other things, like wheat, which we don't produce and, as a result, this can cause problems."
"Nonetheless, it is a Church that is full of hope and I think that it's one of the most beautiful messages that we received from the Holy Father in his encyclical, 'Spe Salvi.'"
The Salesian Cardinal thinks very highly of the ad limina visit the Honduran bishops paid to the Holy See in June.
"We feel extremely happy with both the dicasteries and the Holy Father. It was a very fraternal meeting, full of trust and joy. The Holy Father was very relaxed, very pleased and gave us a precious talk that will be an element of reflection and pastoral action for the coming years."
The Church in Honduras faces many problems, like steadily increasing poverty, but it is a Church that is full of hope, with a very active laity. Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga speaks about the Church in Honduras.
"But the thing that's going to grow the Church is a growing clergy. It's a young Church, a Church full of life with a lot of lay participation. There are only 417 priests, but we have more than 30,000 lay people who are active in ministering the Word of God. And little by little the number of vocations is growing. Logically, there are problems, one of the biggest of which is poverty. Sadly, poverty is growing because we need to import gas. We also need to import other things, like wheat, which we don't produce and, as a result, this can cause problems."
"Nonetheless, it is a Church that is full of hope and I think that it's one of the most beautiful messages that we received from the Holy Father in his encyclical, 'Spe Salvi.'"
The Salesian Cardinal thinks very highly of the ad limina visit the Honduran bishops paid to the Holy See in June.
"We feel extremely happy with both the dicasteries and the Holy Father. It was a very fraternal meeting, full of trust and joy. The Holy Father was very relaxed, very pleased and gave us a precious talk that will be an element of reflection and pastoral action for the coming years."