, Oct 8, 2007 / 11:14 am (CNA).- The president of the College of Catholic Lawyers in Mexico, Armando Martinez, has sent a proposal to the Mexican Senate to reform the country’s Constitution in order to guarantee human rights for priests and religious, such as freedom of expression, which came into question during the recent debate on the legalization of abortion in Mexico City. 

Speaking to reporters, Martinez said that Mexico should continue to be a secular state but one that respects the fundamental rights of religious, which are guaranteed by the Constitution.

The proposal compares the Mexican Constitution with those of twenty-five other countries, as well as with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN declaration on the elimination of all forms of intolerance and discrimination due to religious beliefs.

Although the proposal recognizes the advances that have been made in Mexico in the area of religious freedom, it stressed that constitutional reform would represent a test of the relations between the Holy See and the Mexican State, “so that the State would no longer consider the churches as competition that puts its sovereignty into question, but rather as partners in service to the people, most of whom are at the same time citizens of the State and members of a Church.

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