Moldova's Catholic Bishop urges responsible vote

Bishop Anton Cosha of the Moldovan Roman-Catholic Church called on the Moldovan Catholic Christians to responsibly participate in elections and fulfill their civil duty, Info-Prim Neo reports. “I ask you all to seriously analyze the election platforms, programs and intentions of the candidates and make a conscious decision, avoiding any electoral promises. The Church teaches us to seek first of all values based on the Christian message, related to the protection of life, correct and healthy education of the new generations, support for families and respect for the sacred values of the families, care for the deprived and the poor,” Anton Cosha says in his letter. Even if the Catholic Church enters the Holy Week on the elections day, April 5, the Bishop asked the priests to include election-related invocations in their prayers from next Sunday, asking God to make sure that the legislative elections are conducted without difficulties so that the perennial values triumph for the benefit of all the country‘s people. The Catholic Church’s teaching about the social and political life is very clear. As citizens of their country, all the Christians are obliged to consciously participate in elections and exercise their right to vote freely and secretly. The priests, as pastors of the souls, must urge the faithful to fulfill this civil duty, giving a good example themselves. The Church will strictly avoid engaging in the election campaign and expressing publicly its support for a party or an independent candidate because the Church is a teacher and mother for all her sons and cannot embrace some of them and leave others aside.