Mexican cardinal demands that drug cartels respect holiday season

Mexico City, Mexico, Dec 14, 2010 / 13:55 pm

Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez of Guadalajara, Mexico has called on drug cartels to respect the holiday season after a group of armed men interrupted an Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration and killed at least 10 people.

The cardinal expressed his indignation over the latest episode of violence during Mass on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Dec. 12. “These people have no shame.  They fire off bullets at a group of people attending a religious celebration. They ought to at least respect sacred things … They are already committing serious enough crimes,” he said.

On Dec. 10 armed men fired upon a group honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tecalitlan, located two hours from Guadalajara. At least 10 were killed and 30 injured.

Cardinal Sandoval urged the faithful to take extreme measures to protect themselves from becoming victims of crime, such as “not leaving home unless necessary.” He also encouraged them to avoid becoming victims of extortion by not giving out personal information over the phone.

The cardinal said the reason for Mexico’s ills are because the faithful “have not seriously accepted the message of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is to pay attention to her son and put our faith into practice. He added that Our Lady calls Catholics “to live the commandments of the Lord, who is the King of justice and of peace.”