WASHINGTON (CNS): Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, a former Catholic bishop, visited the White House and told reporters he ran for office “in order to change the history of our country”.
“We are profoundly hurt in our souls by poverty, by the exodus of our young people, by the lack of education, by people who don’t have roofs over their heads,” Mr Lugo said in a brief photo opportunity with President George W. Bush after their meeting on October 27.
“We are profoundly moved by those people.”
Mr Lugo, 57, served as bishop of San Pedro for 12 years before retiring in 2005 to run for political office. He was elected president in April and took office in August.
In July, the Vatican granted his request to be laicised, in keeping with Church laws prohibiting clergy from being involved in electoral politics.
In his remarks at the White House, Mr Lugo said the pain of his people “is also impregnated with courage and decisiveness”.
He said his administration came into office “as Christians, because our Christian duty is to serve the poorest and the neediest of our people”.
Mr Lugo noted that some people have asked why he would visit the White House so close to the end of Bush’s administration.
“I think that it’s particularly important to visit President Bush in his last days in the White House … to impress upon the world the importance of democratic institutions,” Mr Lugo said through a translator.
“Our personal history is not as important as the history of our respective peoples.”
Mr Bush said he was impressed by Mr Lugo’s commitment to his people and his strong stand against corruption in government.
He said he told Mr Lugo that the United States wanted to help Paraguay aid its people.
