Retired bishop wins constituent assembly seat.

Posadas -- As reported recently in The Tablet (Nov. 4, 2006), an "obscure, retired bishop from the far north of Argentina," on the urging of the head of the Argentine Church, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, ran for election and scored a remarkable victory. The Cardinal told Joaquin Pina Batlevell, S.J., Bishop Emeritus of Puerto Igazu, that it was vital to "defend Argentina's democratic institutions against attempts to subvert them by those in power." The Argentine government had poured millions of dollars into Misiones province in an attempt to buy support for the president. The local government-sponsored candidate was attempting to remove a legal ban on his remaining in power indefinitely, which would have made it easier for President Nestor Kirchner to retain his federal power indefinitely.

Bishop Pina had told Catholic News Service, "I want to make clear that I'm not a politician, but this is something that goes beyond politics," (www.catholic.org, Sept. 15, 2006). He retired October 3, 3006, at the age of 76, in time for the elections on October 29 (www.catholic-hierarchy.org).