Bernardo Barranco V.
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The stars are being outlined to the right. The PAN, led by actors who belong to Yunque, has revealed Ricardo Salinas Pliego as its candidate for the Presidency of the Republic. It is heading towards occupying the niche of an ultra-conservative right, with high dividends in Europe, North America and Latin America. The Mexican bishops join this duo. In their last message from the 119th Plenary Assembly, held from November 10 to 14, 2025, the prelates take sides against the 4T government and place themselves in the opposition arena.
Since López Obrador’s six-year term, the bishops of Mexico have maintained a critical stance towards the government, especially on issues of violence and insecurity, arguing that the reality that the country is experiencing contradicts the official discourse. In the document of the assembly of bishops they make a devastating criticism of the violence prevailing in the country. They denounce the unforgivable and prevailing corruption in the government; they cast doubt on the official narrative that the economy is doing well; The distrust is absolute, as they put it: “they tell us that freedoms are respected, but those who express critical opinions are disqualified and singled out from the highest tribunes of power.”
Everything is bad and we are going to get worse, there is no recognition of any achievements of the current government. Regarding education, the criticism is overwhelming, they say that it is a failure in the anthropological, ethical and, ultimately, moral field. Because the very vision of the human being is at stake. The cancer of organized crime, say the prelates, has spread its tentacles to many corners of the country. The State has allowed it and does very little. Without saying it outright, he hints at collusion. Faced with the social degradation that is being experienced, with synodal piety, the bishops express their solidarity with the suffering people in the following way: “We want them to know that our closeness is always with the victims, with the poor, with those who suffer. That our friendship is above all with the simple people who fight every day to survive with dignity.”
With more nuanced language, they remind me of the crude narratives of Lilly Téllez and Alito Moreno about the current circumstance. The episteme is similar, based on an ideology of confrontation and antagonism to the second floor of the 4T. The most worrying thing is the ridiculous simile between the tyranny of Calles in the 1920s and the current government. For this reason, they invoke Cristero heroism and challenge current Christians to achieve the audacity of the Cristeros who offered their lives and achieved martyrdom.
Many questions arise: what echo will the episcopal criticisms and the tragic diagnosis of our reality reach? How much responsibility do the bishops have in the supposed social decomposition that they diagnose? Is the Catholic hierarchy in a position to raise such criticisms knowing that it antagonizes the country even more?
Mexican bishops with these polarizing positions contribute to sectors of society viewing them with distrust. Over the past 30 years, data from Latinobarómetro and the Pew Research Center show an abrupt drop in trust in the Catholic Church in Mexico and throughout Latin America. This loss of trust is also reflected in the decline of membership. In 1995, 80 percent of the Latin American population identified as Catholic; By 2018, however, that identification dropped to 59 percent. On the other hand, the rise of evangelical churches whose emergence not only transforms the field of beliefs, but also bursts into the political life of many countries. There is a marked increase in members of evangelical churches, which in a very short time are reaching 26 percent in Latin America.
Religious institutions have become worldly and have shown their detachment from the values that created them. It seems that the bishops look at reality from a celestial drone, what they call anthropological and moral crisis, is a secular phenomenon that has also impacted the Catholic institution. The Church is at the same time co-responsible for the crisis of values. In nearly 15 thousand churches, temples and chapels throughout the country, where are the values instilled in the population? Is your catechesis current? There is an evident failure in the religious transmission of values, ethics and morals to the population in the social fabric.
When they refer to the intertwining of organized crime with the government, the bishops seem to spit upwards. Hundreds of testimonies of links between the Catholic Church and criminal groups. The narco-almsmillions of criminal donations that are blessed by the use of the Church according to high hierarchs. Examples abound. The last thing is the statements of The Brownleader of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, who made large donations to churches and local communities in Guanajuato.
Finally, violence. The Church is indebted to society for the thousands of cases of sexual abuse of minors in Mexico. Is there really closeness with the victims and those who suffer? Acts of pedophilia enjoy the protection of the bishops. BishopAccountability.org has denounced the cover-up of 18 bishops who protect criminals in cassocks. How can they condemn violence when they inflict it on thousands of victims?
Why don’t they reveal their intentions to support the extreme right of the PAN and endorse the candidacy of Salinas Pliego, who already appears with the banner of the Virgin?
