Pope Gives Blessing for Ex-Bishop to Lead Paraguay

[Judi Lynn]

Pope Gives Blessing for Ex-Bishop to Lead Paraguay
By Daniela Desantis
Reuters
ASUNCION

Pope Benedict granted an unprecedented waiver to allow a former bishop to serve as president of Paraguay without violating church rules, a Vatican representative said on Wednesday.

Although the Roman Catholic Church strongly opposes clergy taking political office, the Pope gave Paraguayan President-elect Fernando Lugo a special dispensation and downgraded him to layman's status.

Lugo was elected in April, ending more than 60 years of one-party rule in the poor South American country notorious for corruption and contraband. He had stepped down as a Roman Catholic bishop, saying he felt powerless to help the poor.

"It's the first time this is granted. It was accepted because the people have chosen him and ... because his clerical status is incompatible with serving as president," said Orlando Antonini, the Vatican's ambassador to Asuncion.

"The Pope has granted him the loss of his clerical status ... he's a layman now," Antonini told a news conference after meeting with Lugo.

For more than 10 years Lugo served as bishop in the impoverished region of San Pedro, but the bearded and bespectacled clergyman shed his cassock in late 2006 to launch his political career despite church opposition.

He had asked that the Vatican grant him layman's status so he could run for president at the head of a center-left coalition. The Holy See rejected this, suspending him from priestly duties but saying he was still a bishop since his ordination was a lifelong sacrament.

After Lugo won the election, the Vatican reconsidered its position. He assumes the presidency on August 15.

"I'd like to sincerely thank his holiness Pope Benedict for a decision that hasn't been easy for the Vatican," Lugo told reporters. "They reconsidered my request for the good of the country."

More:
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5482614

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Paraguay's leader no longer a priest
Under pope's action, president-elect is even free to marry


Jorge Saenz / AP

With a yerba mate drink in hand, Paraguay's President-elect
Fernando Lugo visits with Aleida Guevara, daughter of
Argentine-born revolutionary hero Ernesto Che Guevara in
Asuncion on Monday.

updated 2:45 p.m. CT, Wed., July. 30, 2008
ASUNCION, Paraguay - Paraguay's president-elect has received unprecedented permission from the pope to resign as bishop, the papal nuncio said Wednesday, ending a dispute over Fernando Lugo's priestly status.

Church officials earlier insisted that Lugo, 57, would always be a bishop under church law.

"This is the first case within the church in which a bishop receives a dispensation," Nuncio Orlando Antonini said at a news conference. "Yes, there have been many other priests the pope has left in the status of layman, but never a member of the hierarchy until today."

Lugo also made history with April's presidential election victory, which ended the 61-year rule of the Colorado Party in Paraguay. The former "bishop of the poor" takes office on Aug. 15.

"It's a great pain for the church to lose a bishop, a priest whom we tried to dissuade from the political option up to the last day of his election campaign," Antonini said. "But the Holy Father recognized that he was elected by the majority of the people to lead Paraguay for the next five years."

More:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25934967/