Catholic Church Calls on Mexican Leaders to Confront Culture of Violence, Impunity

 

MEXICO CITY – The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico is calling on the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto to change its strategies for dealing with a crisis of violence and impunity shaking the country.

Cardinal Norberto Rivera told reporters on Sunday that such changes “are absolutely necessary” and he emphasized that Pope Francis is monitoring events in Mexico with concern — not just the September disappearance of 43 students from a rural teachers’ college in southern Guerrero state.

Mexican church leaders will meet with relatives of the missing students in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero on Monday and will celebrate Mass, church officials said.

The case of the missing students has ignited indignation across Mexico and concern worldwide over the fact that the students apparently disappeared at the hands of a corrupt local government and that federal authorities took 10 days to intervene.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets, some calling for Pena Nieto to resign.

Rivera said that Pena Nieto “will have to know how to confront this, with the same or different people,” adding that changes in strategies and attitudes are needed.

He said impunity has allowed violence to grow in Mexico and that it is “very understandable” that civil society is demanding justice.

He noted that besides the missing students, more than 20,000 people across Mexico are reported as missing.

Meanwhile, Mexico’s Catholic Multimedia Center released a report Sunday saying that Mexico is the most dangerous country in Latin America for priests to work in.

The report said that since Pena Nieto took office, in December 2012, eight priests have been killed and that two more have been missing since 2013.

It said there have been 520 reported threats, many of them blunt death threats, and 1,520 cases of extortion against religious workers.

[readon1 url="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/12/22/world/politics-diplomacy-world/catholic-church-calls-on-mexican-leaders-to-confront-culture-of-violence-impunity/#.VJg-d14As"]Source:www.japantimes.co.jp[/readon1]