Rui Tavares, spokesperson for the party Livre, criticized the Government this Thursday for postponing the festive celebrations of April 25th. Tavares accused the executive of “disrespectfully” using the figure of Pope Francis for something they are not very willing to do.
In statements to journalists, Rui Tavares pointed out that this year, besides the celebration of freedom, April 25th has an additional aspect, which is “the celebration of 50 years since the first free, fair, and universal vote, with all women in Portugal participating.”
“A Government that does not understand that it is only in power because of the vote and that, on the very day that marks 50 years since the first vote in the history of our country, a free and fair vote, is a Government that is ungrateful to the vote and democracy,” Tavares criticized.
“There is a day to commemorate April 25th. Everything else is to use, in a way that is disrespectful to Pope Francis himself, his figure, his legacy, of someone who also lived under a dictatorship and fought for democracy (…) for something that the Government apparently is not very willing to do,” he accused.
For the spokesperson of Livre, “we must question why Luís Montenegro and the Government, apparently, are not very eager to celebrate April 25th.”
Rui Tavares called the Government’s decision to postpone the April 25th celebrations, justified by the national mourning for Pope Francis, a shocking act that he claims disrespects democracy.
The Government had announced that the traditional opening of the official residence gardens of the prime minister on April 25th would be postponed to May 1st due to national mourning and “out of respect for the death of Pope Francis.”
The prime minister’s office later clarified that the São Bento gardens will be open for public visits on April 25th from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with the distribution of carnations but without festivities and without the presence of Luís Montenegro, who will travel to Rome that day to participate in Pope Francis’s funeral ceremonies.
On Thursday, the Government approved in the Council of Ministers the decree declaring three days of national mourning for the death of Pope Francis, to be observed from today until Saturday.
