Bolivia elects Catholic-rooted Rodrigo Paz president, ending MAS era. Bishops hail faith-led renewal amid economic crisis.
Newsroom (22/10/2025, Gaudium Press ) In a triumph hailed by the nation’s Catholic bishops as a beacon of hope, Bolivian voters have elected centrist Rodrigo Paz as president, decisively ending two decades of governance by the leftist Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party and opening a new chapter rooted in faith, family, and national renewal.
Paz, a 58-year-old senator whose devout Catholic formation includes studies at a Jesuit college and whose father was a former seminarian, captured nearly 55% of the vote in the Oct. 19 runoff election, according to electoral authorities. His victory over conservative challenger Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga shattered MAS’s iron grip on power, reducing the party — founded by former President Evo Morales — to just two seats in Congress’s lower house after its humiliating first-round implosion in August.
A Mandate from God for Bolivia’s Renewal
Amid jubilant crowds, Paz immediately turned heavenward in his victory address, thanking God for the win and proclaiming, “God … gives us the courage to make decisions that affect our country, that lead to moments like these.” He enshrined his vision in timeless Catholic values: “God, family, and country are the foundation of the vision we have regarding our commitment to all of Bolivia, to all Bolivians.”
The Bolivian bishops’ conference responded with swift joy in an Oct. 20 statement, celebrating the election as a “peaceful democratic day” marked by “strong citizen participation” — a testament to the nation’s Catholic soul. “This participation expresses everyone’s hope: that better days are coming for Bolivia,” they declared, invoking the solidarity and peaceful coexistence at the heart of Catholic social teaching.
Urging all Bolivians to “commit to building a different future,” the bishops called for dialogue, mutual respect, and economic progress “to move our economy forward” — echoing Pope St. John Paul II’s vision of a civilization of love amid material hardship.
Church’s Steadfast Witness Amid MAS Trials
Paz inherits a nation in economic agony: dollar shortages, ballooning deficits, gasoline lines snaking through cities, and a black-market Boliviano trading at double the official rate. Voters, guided by prudence, delivered a resounding rebuke to MAS’s mismanagement, analysts say — a far cry from Morales’ early years, when gas nationalization briefly masked socialist excesses.
“The gas era is ending. President Paz needs to quickly find an economic solution,” said Rafael Archondo, Bolivian academic and former editor of Fides, the Jesuit news service. “People understand that this crisis started with Evo Morales,” added journalist Álvaro Zuazo.
Morales’ tenure tested the Church’s prophetic voice. The Indigenous Aymara leader, allied with Cuba and Venezuela, nationalized resources while pushing a 2009 “plurinational” constitution that supplanted Catholicism’s privileged status with Andean rites — a move that unsettled bishops protective of Bolivia’s Christian heritage.
He defied a 2016 plebiscite for a fourth term, only for his 2019 win to be ruled fraudulent, igniting protests. In divine providence, Catholic bishops mediated the crisis at MAS officials’ request, as chronicled in the conference’s 2021 report. Caretaker Jeanine Áñez followed, but MAS returned under Luis Arce, with Morales venomously accusing the shepherds of “coup complicity.”
Yet the Church endured, its vast network of over 1,500 social service agreements sustaining the faithful through turmoil. Pope Francis’ 2015 visit softened tensions, and Arce’s moderation eased strains further.
A President Aligned with the Church’s Mission
Archondo foresees harmony ahead: The bishops “didn’t have problems” with Arce and “will get along great” with Paz, whose religious roots promise fruitful collaboration.
As Paz prepares to govern, Bolivia’s Catholics see God’s hand at work — guiding a people through scarcity toward solidarity, justice, and renewed faith. In this moment of grace, the nation stands ready to rebuild on the Rock of Peter.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCA News
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