ROME, September 24, 2001 (LSN.ca) – In an address to the Nicaraguan bishops Friday, Pope John Paul urged Nicaraguans to exercise their “right and duty to vote, thinking of the good of the nation,” reminding them “to choose democratic options that guarantee the Christian concept of man and society, which inescapably implies the fundamental rights of the person in all his aspects.”
Zenit News (www.zenit.org) reports that just weeks before the presidential elections the pope urged the Church to work with state authorities to uphold the family. “I am not ignorant of the difficulties that the institution of the family experiences also in Nicaragua, especially in regard to the tragedies of divorce and abortion, as well as the existence of unions that are not in keeping with the Creator’s plan for marriage,” he said. “This reality is a challenge that must stimulate the apostolic zeal of pastors and of all those who collaborate with them in this area.”
See the Zenit coverage and the full speech in Spanish at: https://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=10223 https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2001/september/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20010921_nicaragua-ad-limina_sp.html