Argentina entered into the change with the electoral victory of the Cambiemos Front. The country left behind twelve years of government kirchnerista which outlined a path towards an increasingly virulent "statization" that tried to impose a biased and unidirectional cultural view on the worldview of life and society.
The decision path of the Argentine people looked towards the need for a change. This manifests not only the option of a party, but the look of a people that at some point reacts as self-defense of its own nature. It confirms once again that the people can be patient but at a certain moment they react and ask for a change in the direction of things.
The relationship that this new partisan sign had with the Christian culture could already be seen in the time when they were governors of Buenos Aires. There, positive elements were seen as well as elements that marked a distance from the fundamental Christian principles. An example of the latter is that it was the first corporation to approve the civil union of people of the same sex.
For several decades, Argentina has been going through social and cultural variation in stages of ten years. Party situations set courses that generate changes and then come others that turn in the opposite direction. While it is true that alternation is positive, when it is marked by ideological lines, it does not allow for stable growth. Argentina owes itself a more stable and permanent national project.
Another challenge facing the nation is the initiation of its Bicentennial, 1816-2016 which celebrates 200 years of independence from the Spanish crown. It is a significant event and we hope that it will also be a historical space for reflection and identity for the future. Another activity that the Church is preparing is the National Eucharistic Congress to be held in the historic city of San Miguel de Tucumán. Some one hundred thousand people will gather there to celebrate the mystery of Jesus, Lord of History, alive and present in the Eucharistic bread.
2016 will be an important year but with many social, cultural and economic fluctuations. The Church is facing a very strong time with many pastoral challenges: the drama of drug trafficking has been a strong claim of the episcopate, the national identity for education as an urgent task, the experience of the Jubilee of Mercy will be like the backdrop of gestures and actions among the people, the experience of the Eucharistic Congress as an exceptional opportunity to communicate the urgent need for national reconciliation. There are new winds of change in Argentina, but they must serve to respect the poor who suffer a lot; new winds for a new era that must not forget that power is service.
