Bishop Aguiar Retes, President of the Mexican Bishops' Conference

Mexico City, Mexico, Feb 14, 2008 / 04:34 am (CNA).- In a statement released for the season of Lent, the Bishops’ Conference of Mexico called for the season of conversion be an occasion for rejecting organized crime and a time for drug traffickers abandon their practices.

“We have begun the liturgical season of Lent, which invites us to recommit ourselves to the Christian life and prepares us to celebrate Easter,” the bishops said.

“In Mexico,” they said, “as throughout the world, we suffer the ravages of certain phenomenon caused by the overpricing of material goods and this impacts most cruelly those who have the least.  Among these phenomena are corruption, the search by the powerful for more power, monopolies that widen the gap between rich and poor, and most especially, the scourge of drug trafficking, which has caused so much death and destruction in our country.”
“If these social sins are hurting us in Mexico, it is because we Catholics are committing one of the most serious errors of our time: a separation between the faith we profess and our daily lives,” the bishops added.

The bishops called on all Mexicans to be a part of the solution, and implored those involved in “these absurd situations of drug trafficking to take advantage of the season of Lent to begin a path towards conversion and sincere return to God; only He can open your hearts and move your wills to a total change of life.  As pastors, we are dedicated to striving for everyone to experience a personal encounter with the living Jesus Christ. May he bring us to personal conversion and to a complete change of life, in order to become missionary disciples.”

“This Lent offers all Mexicans the chance to continue supporting our brothers and sisters who are most in need and to renew our commitment to a culture of life, reaffirming our absolute ‘No’ to the scourge of drug trafficking and to the suffering and death that accompanies it,” the bishops said.

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