Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Leon (Agenzia Fides) - The demand for a truce made by the Archbishop of Leon to groups of drug traffickers has been accepted. One group, which is assumed to belong to organized crime, has left in plain view 11 blankets in seven municipalities of Guanajuato, to show that it has accepted the Archbishop of Leon, His Exc. Mgr. Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago’s request, made on January 22. The Archbishop had called criminals to ban violence during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit in Mexico, from March 23 to 26. However, according to the local press that reports sources of the State Attorney's Office, the criminal group seem to have conditioned the truce concerning the acceptance of the request to block the actions of a rival group of drug trafficking cartel in Guanajuato.
On January 22, Mgr. Martin Rabago had made this request to members of organized criminality: "You have to collaborate in taking into account that many people come for an act which has the utmost respect. You must not take advantage of doing something that would lead to an experience of pain and of death".
It is not the first time that the Catholic Church calls for a truce to the Mexican narcos. In December 2010, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez had already done it twice. Last August, the Mexican Episcopal Conference had asked to allow in a peaceful manner, the pilgrimage of the relics of John Paul II in the country.
On 28 January, the Apostolic Nuncio in Mexico, Archbishop Christophe Pierre said that the Church did not call for a truce, but "we demand a change of mindset". The same appeal was made by the Secretary General of the Mexican Episcopal Conference, Mgr. Victor Rene Rodriguez Gomez, Auxiliary Bishop of Texcoco (see Fides 25/01/2012). (CE) (Agenzia Fides 08/02/2012)
