Costa Rica’s new president, Laura Virginia Fernández Delgado, began her administration on May 8 by laying down her presidential sash before an image of Our Lady of the Angels, the country’s patroness.
The office of the president shared the event on social media on May 9 after the head of state and her staff attended a Mass celebrated by Bishop Javier Román of Limón, president of the Costa Rican Bishops’ Conference.
During his homily, the prelate said the gesture of beginning one’s administration with a Mass serves as a reminder that “there are decisions and burdens that cannot be sustained solely by our own strength,” emphasizing the need to turn to God in our daily lives.
He invited Fernández to draw inspiration when exercising power from the example of St. Thomas More, who did so “with rectitude and consistency,” noting that authority attains its “greatest grandeur when exercised considering others.”
Peace for Costa Rica and its leaders
Román offered a prayer asking for “strength” for those assuming public responsibilities, noting that behind every office, “there remains a person, a heart that needs serenity and peace so as not to harden amid so many pressures.”
He invited the new officials to seek that peace in God, who, he assured, “walks with us even amid trials,” affirming that the Costa Rican people also share this need, given the current social context of violence and uncertainty.
“Families battered by violence need that peace. Our youth, often tempted by misguided paths or by discouragement, need it. Our communities, scarred by insecurity, drug trafficking, and murders, need it,” he stated.
In light of this situation, Román invoked the Holy Spirit to grant the new officials “wisdom in making decisions, prudence to listen, and clarity to act, always with the well-being of our people in mind.”
‘A call to live out one’s faith publicly’
Román said this is a time when “faith is hidden or is lived out solely in private,” noting that faith in public life “can become a guide for acting with rectitude, honesty, and with a sense of morality.”
He added that when a person recognizes the existence of a truth greater than oneself, he or she “also understands that power has limits and that all authority must be exercised with ethics, conscience, and respect for life.”
Women in power
During the ceremony, Román also highlighted the fact that, for the second time in Costa Rican history, a woman has assumed the leadership of the country.
He said that women possess a special capacity to “safeguard life, to sustain it even amid difficulties, and to remind us that behind every decision, there are always real people, families, and genuine suffering.”
The bishop affirmed that the country needs “firmness, yes; but also humanity,” as well as leaders capable of “listening to that cry and seeking ways to relieve those who feel that the doors are beginning to close.”
Román issued a call for national unity and said that “the challenges facing us are too great to deal with while we are divided,” inviting his listeners to “walk together and build the future of our nation with confidence.”
“As a Church, we wish to say to you with sincerity, Madam President: We pray for you. Not only during this celebration. Every Sunday, the Church lifts up its prayers for those who bear the responsibility of leading the peoples,” he said.
The bishop then entrusted the present and future of the country to the protection of Our Lady of the Angels, asking that she “accompany every step of this new government, protect our people, and help us to live as brothers and sisters. And may the Lord grant us the grace to walk together, in truth, justice, and hope.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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