Mexico’s Catholic bishops denounce gap between official narrative and daily violence, extortion, and poverty as massive anti-government protests erupt in 50+ cities
Newsroom (17/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) In an unusually forceful editorial published earlier this month, the Mexican Bishops Conference (CEM) accused federal authorities of constructing “a narrative that does not correspond to the experience of millions of Mexicans” and declared it the Church’s duty “to speak clearly about the reality” lived by the population.
The statement, signed by all 135 active and auxiliary bishops, comes as a new wave of protests—among the largest since President Claudia Sheinbaum took office in October 2024—swept more than 50 cities on Saturday, drawing retirees, students, and families who voiced exhaustion with spiraling violence, extortion, and perceived governmental inaction.
“No leader has succeeded in eradicating this evil,” the bishops wrote, cataloguing a grim litany that includes political assassinations, record-high extortion, forced displacement, highways controlled by armed groups, and the recruitment or kidnapping of youths into criminal ranks. They also lamented ongoing threats and murders of priests, nuns, and lay pastoral workers.
The prelates explicitly rejected accusations of partisanship, insisting their intervention is “profoundly pastoral” and rooted in an obligation not to remain “indifferent or neutral in the face of human suffering.”
On Saturday in the capital’s Zócalo, thousands chanted “¡Fuera Claudia!” and carried banners demanding the president’s impeachment. “I’m tired, saddened by the situation we’re living in today,” said Rodrigo Santana, a 21-year-old actor and singer marching with friends. “The goal of this march is to impeach the president and to show that the people are not with her.”
Despite Sheinbaum’s administration still registering approval ratings above 60 percent in most polls, the demonstrations—partly inspired by global Gen Z mobilization tactics—revealed a widening gap between official claims of declining homicides and the daily reality reported by citizens and now corroborated by the Church.
The bishops highlighted several stark contradictions:
- Official statistics touting reduced violence while “the number of bereaved families grows.”
- Anti-corruption rhetoric undermined by continued impunity in high-profile cases.
- Celebrated economic growth that fails to keep the canasta básica (basic food basket) affordable for millions.
- A security strategy that, in the Church’s view, has allowed organized crime to tighten its grip on entire regions.
The statement arrives weeks after the assassination of a mayor known for confronting cartels and amid reports of open warfare between rival factions in states such as Guerrero, Michoacán, and Zacatecas.
For many analysts, the Church’s intervention carries particular weight in a country where Catholicism remains a central moral reference for roughly 78 percent of the population. Unlike previous CEM pronouncements that often balanced criticism with calls for dialogue, this text adopts an uncompromising tone, describing Mexico as submerged in a crisis that is “not only political or security-related but profoundly human and spiritual.”
As protests show no sign of abating and criminal violence continues to claim lives—including two more mayoral candidates murdered since October—the bishops’ call for truth-telling and a renewed commitment to the common good has resonated widely.
In the words of the episcopal conference: “Out of love for our people, we cannot remain silent.” For a nation searching for a path toward peace and justice, that declaration may mark the beginning of a broader reckoning.
- Raju Hasmukh with files form Tribune Chretienne
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