Chega requested an audience with the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon, D. Manuel Clemente, after the president of the Catholic Work for Migration, Eugénia Quaresma, said that xenophobia and racism in political discourse represent a “very serious” situation and that Chega it only won one stage because it gives voice to the dissatisfaction “of things that do not materialize”.
In response to the statements, in a letter sent to Mr. Manuel Clemente and to which the Observer had access, Chega stresses that “the Catholic Church as an Institution and the organizations that are part of its structure should not interfere in political and partisan life. ”. The party led by André Ventura, who claims to be Catholic, considers that with this position the Catholic Church can end up taking “many times on the side of those who in its genesis did not protect it” or “worse”, it says, can take sides with the people. whom they are “always ready to attack and destroy, against those who are naturally favorable and respectful”.
For this reason, Chega says that the existence of “a conversation in an appropriate place” between the cardinal patriarch and André Ventura, president of the party, is “essential” to reach an “understanding and respective conclusions” on the case. . For Chega, Eugénia Quaresma’s statements about the party are “extremely serious” due to the accusations of racism and xenophobia. The party also highlights that her speech is “manipulated” by the media and sums it up: “Equal rights for equal duties for each and every one of the citizens who live or want to live in Portugal.”
“We all know that this is not what happens in the migratory model used in immigration matters, which is even prone to permissiveness with the flows of illegal immigration and the abuses of the criminal groups of human trafficking. Reporting this has nothing to do with xenophobia or racism, but with social responsibility towards migrants and locals,” reiterates the letter signed by Ricardo Regalla Dias, André Ventura’s chief of staff.
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Source: Observadora
