Bishop Ramazzini, social causes champion, to head Guatemalan bishops

Published: 2006-02-07

GUATEMALA CITY (CNS) -- Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini Imeri, a champion of social causes, has been elected to head the Guatemalan bishops' conference for the next two years. In his first official statement as the new president in early February, Bishop Ramazzini expressed concern for the growing level of violence in Guatemala, as well as for the millions of Guatemalans living in poverty as a result of social injustice and a "very grave inequality in the distribution of resources." The statement reaffirmed the bishops' opposition to a controversial family planning law recently passed by the Guatemalan Congress and to a gold and silver mine in San Marcos province owned by the Canadian company Glamis Gold Ltd. Bishop Ramazzini, who has headed the Diocese of San Marcos for the past 17 years, has led opposition to the new mine.

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