Aregentina has 4,500 shanty towns and illegal settlements.

Seven priests - including Bishop Gustavo Carrara - who live and minister in the slums of Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, met with President Alberto Fernandez last week.

The priests' suggestions helped broaden understanding of the reality of those who live in the slums and what isolation would be like for them.

The filmed a video with Fernandez in the background, where they urged all people to stay home, including those in the country's slums.

"In the slums it is also possible to be in quarantine. We know that the neighbors sometimes have little space. If you see someone in the streets who needs help to isolate themselves, let us know.

"Let there be no grandparents in the streets, bring them to our parishes," the priests say in a video shared by Fernandez on Twitter.

"The parishes in the slums are open for whatever is necessary."

The priests and the president then prayed the Our Father.

The Holy Father, Poipe Francis, asked all Christians to do so last Wednesday to ask for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting took place in the president's house, as he is in semi-isolation because he's over 60. In Argentina this is considered an at-risk age for COVID-19 patients.

Fernandez brought the priests together because they have first-hand knowledge of the situation in the slums and have a sense of the general mood of the population.

They can also help keep people calm if the quarantine continues much longer.

An estimated seven percent of the population of Buenos Aires live in one of several shantytowns.

"We told the president that social peace has a lot to do with the help that is given," said one priest after the meeting.

"The president showed knowledge of the situation and assured us that more help is coming."

To help protect those most at risk, most of the 40 priests who live in the slums are setting up cots in their parish grounds so the elderly don't have to live on the streets. Schools are being re-purposed so homeless people and drug addicts can be cared for.

"If people are starving, they are going to go out and work," another priest said. "Even if this means placing themselves and others in danger."

"In our neighborhoods, the social issues are above health, even if they go hand in hand," he added. "If the social issue is not resolved, we won't be able to take care of the health of our neighbors."

Di Paola said rather than ask people to stay home in their almost unbearable homes, people should be to "stay in the neighborhood."

"They can take time out for walks but avoid social gatherings."

Source

• Crux
• Image: MercoPress

The priests, together with a lay group, say there are attacks "of every kind" against the Pope, Crux reported.

Local media and political leaders have either tried to claim Francis as their own or discredit his every word, it is alleged.

An inter-religious alliance signed a petition "ratifying our commitment to the Pope's intentions and our repudiation to the actions against him".

One attack against Francis was launched by a former president of Uruguay, Julio Maria Sanguinetti.

Writing in Argentina's La Nacion newspaper, Mr Sanguinetti praised the start of Francis's pontificate.

His "colloquial and open style, his austere life and his generalised combating against the horror of clerical sexual abuse surrounded him with hope".

He noted the Pope's compassionate attitude towards women who have had an abortion.

Also noted was Francis's call for priests to work in the slums, which "earned him applause of the liberal sectors of the Catholic world and gave him credit in public opinion".

Yet, according to Mr Sanguinetti, the last three years have shown a Pontiff who fails to be "universal" by constantly meddling in Argentina's political affairs.

The former president also described Francis's economic vision as "anachronistic" and even "anarchist".

He also criticised Francis's outlook on refugees and migrants in Europe.

Italian blog Il Sismografo, considered a semi-official voice of the Vatican's Secretariat of State, has repeatedly complained about newspaper coverage in Argentina.

These media outlets "do everything in their power to outdo each other in the amplification of falsehood, hypotheses, suppositions and insinuations" regarding Francis.

The blog stated that newspapers report people who wrongly appoint themselves as papal spokespersons.

Sources

• Crux
• Image: Times Union

Images of the Child Jesus, popularly known as the Santo Nino, have been dislodged from their altars as the shanties of slum dwellers in five villages of Tondo district in Manila were demolished this week to make way for a government road project.

The new road - Road 10 - is supposed to be wide enough to accommodate six lanes in both directions and is expected to improve traffic flow in and out of Manila, which has become notorious for its congestion.

The project, however, will also render some 1,600 people homeless.

Homelessness may yet again be the fate of 27-year-old Mary Jane Paco, who lives with her husband and one-year-old child on Road 10.

Before they moved to their "rent-free" shanty, Mary Jane's family, all devotees of the Child Jesus, lived on the sidewalks outside the Santo Nino de Tondo Parish Church.

Their shanty on Road 10 provided them, and their Santo Nino, shelter for the last three years.

Mary Jane says they may yet again live in the streets, and maybe go back to their old refuge on the sidewalk outside the Tondo church after authorities flatten their home.

Yolanda Gamido, 53, finds herself in the same predicament. She rents the shack she lives in and is not qualified for relocation. Although she has two married children, Yolanda lives alone, barely getting by on her pension. Continue reading.

Source: UCANews

Image: George Moya/UCANews

Read about them in the Manawatu Standard
Image: Walk Through India