AMERICA/MEXICO - Before the image of the Virgin of Candelaria one prays for the return of peace

Monday, 20 January 2014

Michoacán (Agenzia Fides) – During the Mass celebrated yesterday, Sunday, January 19, at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Apatzingán for the arrival of the image of the Virgin of Candelaria (that comes from the chapel of Santiago Acahuato), His Exc. Mgr. Miguel Patiño Velasquez, Bishop of the diocese of Apatzingán, asked the faithful to "banish demons" in order to return to peace, security and freedom of movement in the state of Michoacán, principally in the municipality of Tierra Caliente.
Before the miraculous image of the Virgin of Acahuato, whose annual feast is held on 2 February and attended by over 20,000 people, Mgr. Miguel Patiño said that "society is in desperate need of God", this is why he asked all those present to pray for peace and the return of calm in the area, shaken by terrible clashes between gangs and the military (see Fides 17/01/2014).
Father Gregorio Lopez, pastoral vicar of Apatzingán, at the end of the Mass, according to the note sent to Fides, asked the faithful to "join together to help the government restore order in the community and throw out once and for all the Templar Knights. The community must wake up - said the priest - must believe. But the situation is very delicate, because if the authorities do not do what they promise, they allow the action of self-defense groups". (CE) (Agenzia Fides 20/01/2014)


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