c. 2008 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) As Pope Benedict XVI wowed 57,000 people at Yankee Stadium on Sunday (April 20), Paraguay elected a former Catholic bishop as president.

Fernado Lugo, who resigned as bishop of San Pedro to run against the right-wing Colorado Party, now joins the “pink wave” of democratically elected leaders in Latin America. Lugo told the Associated Press that his first priorities would be financial. He wants to help poor indigenous peoples of his land-locked country, and to obtain more revenue from Brazil for their common river dam.

Lugo had to choose: priest or politician. “Moving from priesthood to politics makes sense as I continue to serve the poor,” he said, so he chose politics.

The pope is not fond of priests in politics. In fact, church law forbids priests from serving as government officials. In 1980, U.S. Rep. (and Jesuit priest) Robert Drinan did not run for a fifth term at the insistence of Pope John Paul II. Later in the 1980s, U.S. nuns who stepped across the religio-political dividing line were forced to choose church or politics, often over the question of so-called abortion rights.

Three years ago in Paraguay, Lugo chose politics. But Lugo is a bishop, not a simple priest, and the pope would not laicize him (release him from his priestly vows). Benedict suspended Lugo from ministry, but technically Lugo is still a bishop and still a priest.

For Lugo, the cry of the poor of Paraguay was louder than the sound of Vatican papers shuffling. More than 40 percent of Paraguay’s 6.8 million people live in dire poverty. Corruption and illiteracy paralyze the nation. Lugo reportedly personally apologized to the pope, and told the Associated Press he hopes to go back to serving as a bishop once his presidency ends. That is highly unlikely during Benedict’s reign.

As Lugo campaigned for human rights in Paraguayan slums, Benedict was talking about priestly sex abuse on his flight to the U.S. While Lugo traveled in shirt sleeves to oust the political party that strangled Paraguay for more than 60 years, Benedict was being greeted by President Bush.

They are two very different kinds of bishop, moving in very different circles. Each is deeply dedicated and very genuine, and each finds the argument for human rights in Christ. One seeks to influence presidents, the other chooses to be one.

At 58, Lugo might have more time to wield his influence. Benedict, as we all saw with the birthday festivities on the White House lawn, is now 81.

Benedict’s first task was to regain some church credibility. He addressed priestly sex abuse again and again, and met with victims of what boils down to poor oversight by individual bishops, including many who crowded around him at ceremonies. He said little, if anything, about women in the church, and symbolically underscored his male-only policies by favoring men in most liturgical roles.

Of course everyone was thrilled to see and hear the pope. Despite the Secret Service agents who cluttered the aisles, both ballpark Masses were logistical and liturgical successes. Benedict’s theme, “Christ Our Hope,” resounded all over New York _ from his United Nations speech to his synagogue and church visits, the Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, an afternoon youth rally for 20,000 and, finally, at Yankee Stadium.

But Benedict addressed an aging flock. Except for the youth rally, the average age of the pope’s personal audiences was often over 60. At St. Patrick’s, most of the nuns, deacons, priests and bishops who filled the cathedral were twice as old as the few seminarians and younger priests seated on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, thousands in Asuncion, Paraguay’s capital, cheered as ex-bishop Lugo said, “You have decided to be a free Paraguay.” Human rights are the order of the day. The average age in Paraguay is 22.

(Phyllis Zagano is senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University and author of several books in Catholic Studies.)

KRE/LF END ZAGANO