Courtney McGrailMexico’s Cardinal-designate Alberto Suarez Inda had planned to retire as archbishop of the crime-ravaged diocese of Morelia, but in May was asked by Pope Francis “to wait, to endure, to resist”, he has revealed in an interview, adding that he had never expected to be appointed cardinal.
One of five bishops who signed a statement in December urging reconciliation in the state of Michoacan, following 11 deaths in a shootout between groups originally formed to fend off organised crime. Archbishop Suarez believes that Mexico, currently struggling with crime, corruption and anti-clerical violence, is living through a “worrisome” time of “emergency, of insecurity”.
“Enough!” the bishops cried in their statement: “We don’t want more blood. We don’t want more deaths. We don’t want more disappeared. We don’t want more pain and revenge.”
Other bishops have also spoken out. Pastoral letters have been written on the subject and even the papal nuncio, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, has promised to support the families of 43 students from Guerrero state who are missing and thought to have been killed.
Over the last two years, eight priests have been murdered in Mexico, with others having being kidnapped. Accompanied by three of his bishops, the Archbishop of Acapulco met earlier this month with the attorney general in order to raise concerns following the murders of Fr Gregorio López and the Ugandan Fr John Ssenyondo.
Bishop Alejo Zavala Castro of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, who took part in the meeting, says his priests have been subject to threats and blackmail, but that despite this, they would not be seeking special protection from the government. He said the government should make it a priority “to ensure the safety of all citizens”.
