Rodolfo Soriano-Núñez Miércoles, 26 de Febrero del 2025, 00:00
The Mexican bishops also decry social inequality and poverty, corruption, and “the insecurity ravaging ever increasing territories” in their country.
The Mexican bishops call their government to avoid using migrants as tokens to negotiate with the United States.
By Rodolfo Soriano-Núñez
On Monday afternoon, the chair and general secretary of the Mexican Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a brief, two-pages, statement dealing with the threats coming as a consequence of the changes in several U.S. policies directly affecting Mexico and other foreign countries.
Although bishop Ramón Castro, chair of the Mexican Conference of Catholic Bishops and head of the diocese of Cuernavaca, in central Mexico, and his general secretary, auxiliary bishop of Mexico City, Héctor M. Pérez Villarreal, decry Trump’s policies, they acknowledge that “the real enemy” is inside their own country and call for “authentic national unity as to overcome” the challenges at hand.”
The statement falls short of openly criticizing Donald Trump, as they do not mention him by name, but the Mexican bishops say they are concerned as both religious leaders and Mexican citizens.
Their main concern is the “worrying policy of the new U.S. President especially towards Mexico and more broadly towards the world at large.”
When assessing Trump's choices the Mexican bishops say “it is clear he is aiming at pressuring our country to achieve very specific goals in his government’s plans: fighting the activity of the organized crime dealing with drugs, dealing with migration issues, and overcoming the disadvantages in economic exchanges between both countries that, according to him, are not favorable to the United States.”
The Mexican bishops go from there into calling the “political forces” in their country to favor “respectful dialogue and a prudent opening toward the U.S. government to agree on mutual collaboration.”
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However, the Mexican prelates say that “the real enemy” is inside Mexico where they claim there is a need for “authentic national unity as to overcome our grave inner problems that have been dismissed for many years and keep worsening.”
The bishops call for the Mexican government to develop “inclusive governmental policies able to take into consideration the different political forces, the organized civil society, the religious organizations and all the citizens.”
The Mexican bishops enlist as the top issues to deal with “social inequality and poverty;” “corruption that keeps invading all our social settings;” what they call “the insecurity ravaging with its blood-thirsty rage ever larger territories controlled by organized criminals dealing not only with drugs, but also with extorsion, grand-theft in highways;” “mugs in public transportation,” and what the bishops perceive as a broad “social degradation.”
They go further to enlist other issues ranging from the low quality of the education system to the need to acknowledge the rights and dignity of migrants and to “avoid perceiving them as tokens to negotiate with the country to the North (the United States) or only as victims of all kinds of criminals.”
The bishops also call to restore the rule of law “as we are experiencing such an institutional erosion that the law no longer rules, but the will of those able to subordinate others.”
English Edition
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In the opening paragraphs of their message, the Mexican bishops praise the Mexican President, Claudia Sheinbaum, stressing the chance she has to use what they call “her properly feminine gaze and sensitivity,” and congratulate her for being “more open to dialogue.”
Despite Sheinbaum not calling herself a Catholic, she has been willing to meet with the Mexican Catholic bishops first as a presidential candidate and later as President. She also travelled to Rome, before the beginning of the election campaign to Rome to meet with Pope Francis.
The Mexican bishops close their statement quoting Pope Francis:
We remind you of Pope Francis’s words: « unity prevails over conflict, » and call you to become the main characters in building a more fair, brotherly, and peaceful Mexico.
“Unity prevails over conflict” is a staple of Pope Francis’s messages over the last twelve years as Pontiff. He has been expanding on that idea since his days as archbishop of his native Buenos Aires. As Pope, he has been using it in statements and speeches to emphasize the need to dialogue within and outside the Roman Catholic Church.
One of the most recent uses of that phrase was in January 2021, when addressing the participants of a week the Catholic Church usually dedicates to promote Christian unity. On January 20th, 2021, Pope Francis said:
- During this time of serious hardship, the prayer that unity may prevail over conflict is even more necessary. It is urgent that we set aside particularism in order to promote the common good, and our good example is fundamental to this: it is essential that Christians pursue the path toward full visible unity. In the last decades, thanks be to God, there have been many steps forward, but we need to persevere in love and in prayer, without lacking trust nor tiring. It is a path that the Holy Spirit gave rise to in the Church, in Christians and in us all, from which there is no turning back. Ever onward!
The statement of the Mexican bishops is officially available only in Spanish. They issued it over their accounts at different social media platforms. Over what used to be Twitter it is available after this paragraph.
