Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mexico City (Agenzia Fides) – A delegation of Mexican Bishops will travel to Colombia to learn about the activities that the Catholic Church in Colombia will hold for peace, against violence by organised crime and guerilla warfare announced the Episcopal Commission for Social Pastoral Care in Mexico (CEPS). The Commission said in a statement sent to Fides, that the idea is to combine the pastoral care work for non-violence and building peace. The Mexican delegation will attend a meeting of the General Assembly of the Colombian Episcopal Conference, to be held from 7 to 11 February in Bogotá, and will have as its central theme “Pastoral Care for Peace”.
The Mexican delegation is made up of Bishops from the regions affected by violence in Mexico and by members of the Commission for Social Pastoral Care (CEPS). Among the Bishops meeting in Colombia are Archbishop Carlos Garfias Merlos of Acapulco; Bishop Gustavo Rodríguez Vega of Nuevo Laredo, and the Auxiliary Bishop of Morelia, Bishop Carlos Suárez Cázarez. Attending from the CEPS will be the Executive Secretary, Father Armando Flores Navarro; Counsellor, Father Adalberto Saviñon; and the director of social communications, Alberto Arciniega Rossano.
The situation of violence in Mexico has long been known, above all in the north of the Country, where priests are even forced to change the time of Mass celebrations to allow the faithful to meet without running into danger (see Fides 13/11/2010). Local sources of Fides, who for safety reasons cannot be named, say that many priests are blackmailed or threatened because they help the people most in need, while other priests must be silent with their community when they are threatened by people suspected or openly known to be members of clans or gangs. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 04/02/2011)
