Bishops Call for Day of Prayer Against Crippling Violence David Agren - Catholic News Service
go to original July 8, 2022

Indigenous women pray over the coffins of Jesuit Father Javier Campos and Joaquín Mora during their funeral Mass at Sagrado Corazon de Jesus Church in Chihuahua, Mexico. The two priests were murdered at the parish June 20 as they offered refuge to a tour guide seeking protection. (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)

Mexico’s Catholic leaders are calling for a day of prayer as violence continues crippling the country and priests and bishops raise their voice on an issue that puts them in conflict with Mexico’s popular president.

The Mexican bishops’ conference, the Jesuits and Mexican conference of religious superiors have asked dioceses, parishes and religious congregations to celebrate Masses and pray for peace July 10 “in significant places that represent” the more than 250,000 Mexicans murdered and 100,000 disappeared over the past 15 years of violence, driven by drug cartel confrontations.

“There is a wound to heal and there is the strength that the country needs today to build peace. Remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus, in these places, will transform fear into strength to build peace,” said the invitation from the bishops’ conference, Jesuits and Conference of Major Superiors of Religious of Mexico.

“Our proposal is social dialogue to build a path of justice and reconciliation that leads us to peace. … We are facing a complex problem, which requires everyone to address it from its root causes and thus allow the resurrected Christ to bring forth a new perspective, allowing the agreements that Mexico needs today to be built.”

The promotion of a day of prayer follows a period of unprecedented outspokenness on crime and violence from Catholic leaders following the murders of Jesuit Fathers Javier Campos Morales and Joaquín César Mora Salazar, who were slain in their parish in northern Chihuahua state June 20 while sheltering a man fleeing a known crime boss.

The call for prayer also comes as Mexico’s president rebuffs calls from bishops and priests to change a security strategy of “hugs, not bullets,” which remains poorly defined, but has failed to calm the country or curb impunity.

“‘Hugs, not bullets,’ is demagogic, and, to a certain extent, complicit,” Bishop Ramón Castro Castro, conference secretary-general, said July 3 after a peace march in Cuernavaca.

“It will never be lawful or legal for civil authorities to surrender their responsibility for security and social peace, for which they have the power and legitimate use of force.”

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador responded testily to church calls for a new security strategy, accusing the bishops of hypocrisy, being tied to the oligarchy — the old elites he considers political opponents — and there even being a “dark hand” manipulating them. He even quoted Pope Francis in an attempt to shame the bishops, claiming the message of the pope’s 2016 Mexico trip was uncomfortable for the church hierarchy.

“No political or religious leader has spoken with as much clarity on Mexico’s problems as Pope Francis did on that visit,” López Obrador said, adding that he “identifies” with the pope, though he has never publicly identified as Catholic.

“I am absolutely convinced that violence cannot be confronted with more violence. Enough with coercive measures,” the president added. “This is a conservative, authoritarian conception.”

Priests contacted by Catholic News Service say the president has misinterpreted their calls for a change of security strategy, conflating it with a political attack.

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