Mexican cardinal says Pope and country’s bishops will continue to speak out

Mexico City, Mexico, Oct 10, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The Archbishop of Mexico City, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, said this week the Pope and the Mexican bishops would continue to address the issues facing that country from the perspective of the Gospel.

The cardinal made his statements after Mass on Sunday at the archdiocesan cathedral.  Asked if lawmakers were justified in being bothered by the comments of Benedict XVI about the problems in Mexico, the cardinal said they were acting irrationally.

He criticized the reactions of those who think the Pope is meddling in Mexican affairs and noted that there has in fact been an increase as of late in corruption, impunity, drug trafficking and organized crime.  The cardinal said the Pope’s words “are nothing more than the expression of the Gospel,” and that with them “he is encouraging us to fulfill our duties.”

Likewise, Cardinal Rivera underscored that some politicians are seeking “to gain power at all costs for their own benefit and vainglory, rather than in service to society,” and he emphasized that the future of the country “depends not only on the next president, but also on civil society, on both the media and business leaders and intellectuals.”

The cardinal also renewed calls for the defense of life from conception until natural death, in response to an effort by some legislators to legalize euthanasia.

He said the Church would not accept under any circumstances the elimination of some people “just because they are weak, or because they can no longer contribute because they are suffering.  I think there are other remedies for pain besides death,” he stated.