ASUNCION, Paraguay (CNS) The revelation that Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo, a former Catholic bishop, fathered a child before being laicised has damaged the Church’s image, the country’s Catholic bishops said. Bishop Ignacio Gogorza Izaguirre of Encarnacion called the news "a blow against our church."
In a statement issued April 14, a day after Lugo admitted having a son who is nearly 2 years old, the bishops asked "forgiveness for the sins of the members of the church, both pastors and the faithful," and called on Catholics "and people of good will to pray for us to keep us faithful to our mission as priests and bishops."
Lugo, who was elected president in 2008, admitted April 13 that he had fathered a child who will turn 2 May 4. In a televised statement, Lugo said: "It is true that there was a relationship with Viviana Carrillo. I assume all responsibilities that could result from that, acknowledging paternity of the child."
Lugo said he would dedicate part of his salary of about $3,500 per month to child support. He has been donating the entire amount to an agency that works with indigenous people.
On April 15, a lawyer asked the courts to officially add Lugo’s name to the boy’s birth certificate. The child, who was originally registered only with his mother’s last names, will become Guillermo Armindo Lugo Carrillo.
The case came to light April 8 when two lawyers filed a paternity suit on Carrillo’s behalf. The woman distanced herself from the lawsuit later that day, but Paraguayan newspapers reported that Lugo, 57, was a friend of her godmother’s family and had met Carrillo, now 26, 10 years ago, when she worked as a maid in her godmother’s home.
Lugo’s political colleagues said they were blindsided by the announcement and did not know the accusations were true when they called a press conference to defend the president after the lawsuit was filed. In the days after the president’s statement, however, Paraguayan newspapers reported claims that Lugo was being blackmailed by people who knew about the boy.
Lugo resigned as bishop of San Pedro in early 2005 and worked as the principal of a school in Asuncion until December 2006, when he announced his intention to leave the priesthood and run for president.
Lugo won the presidential election in April 2008, but the Vatican did not laicize him until the end of July, just two weeks before his inauguration.
Bishop Mario Medina Salinas of San Juan de las Misiones, a member of the permanent council of the Paraguayan bishops’ conference, told the Paraguayan newspaper ABC Digital that Lugo’s admission was an "act of courage and sincerity."
Bishop Medina said that since Lugo has been laicized there would be no sanction from the church.
Liz Torres, head of the Ministry of Children and Adolescents, called Lugo’s acknowledgment "the right thing to do."
Lugo, who was known as "the bishop of the poor," campaigned against corruption and for greater equality for the country’s indigenous people and poor peasant farmers. His election broke the 60-year rule of Paraguay’s Colorado Party.
