Catholic Church: Extermination field found in Mexico reflects human misery

The Catholic Church in Mexico expressed its “deep indignation and pain” after the discovery of a training and extermination of organized crime in a ranch in the state of Jalisco where clandestine crematories were found.

The site was located at the Izaguirre Rancho, in the municipality of Teuchitlán, about 60 kilometers from Guadalajara, the state capital, by the Guerreros Searchers collective of Jalisco, an organization of relatives of missing persons who seek clandestine graves with the hope of finding their loved ones.

According to the State Prosecutor’s Office, So far “six bone lots have been detected in four spaces on the property” that would correspond to more than 200 victims.

The place was already known by the authorities since the National Guard carried out an operation on September 18, 2024 in which it arrested ten people, according to the prosecutor’s same.

In the place they found a tactical training area and another physical conditioning, as well as garments and clothing that would have been used by both criminals and their victims.

One of the “most cruel expressions of evil”

In its pronouncement on Wednesday, the Mexican Episcopate Conference (CEM) described the finding as “one of the most cruel expressions of human evil and misery that we have witnessed in our country.”

The Mexican bishops pointed out that these acts “directly threaten the sacred dignity of the human person created in the image and likeness of God.”

The prelates also criticized the official figures provided by the Mexican authorities regarding violence. “We manifest our strangeness because it is assumed that malicious murders fall, it is about hiding that the disappearances grow 40%. Unfortunately, most of these victims are our young people, ”said the CEM statement.

According to him website From the Ministry of the Interior of Mexico, whose data covers from December 31, 1952 until March 14 of this year, 124,179 disappeared and not located in the country have been registered, being Jalisco the State with the largest number of cases.

The bishops called on the authorities to implement effective policies to prevent “these heinous crimes and guarantee non -repetition”, while demanding that they stop “evading their responsibility or trying to hide this reality” of violence that is lived in the country.

A day after the CEM statement, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, replied in press conference This Thursday ensuring that the information of the bishops is wrong.

“We will be informing. But the Episcopate does not have the right information and we gladly ask the Ministry of the Interior there to contact them to explain that it is not so, ”he said.

Maintain attention in the disappeared for Lent

The Mexican bishops also called on Catholics to take advantage of this Lent time to “intensify prayer for the disappeared, accompany the victims and contribute to the reconstruction of the social fabric.”

They also promised to “be a voice of those who have no voice and to collaborate tirelessly in the construction of a country where justice, truth and unrestricted respect for human dignity prevail.”

Solidarity expressions towards the victims

In response to this macabre find, several activities will be carried out to pray and sympathize with the victims and their families:

• Mass for the missing: This Saturday, March 15, Mons. Francisco Javier Acero, auxiliary bishop of the primed archdiocese of Mexico, will preside over a Mass in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City at 3:00 p.m. (local time).

The celebration will be in honor of the missing persons and in support of their families.

• National vigil and mourning: That same day, at 5:00 p.m., the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious of Mexico (CIRM) summoned a vigil in the esplanade of the Zocalo of Mexico City, in front of the Cathedral. “With 400 shoes and 400 candles, let’s remember those who have been victims of violence and forced disappearance. Let’s accompany our voice and show our solidarity as a church and as a society, ”CIRM said in his call to the community.

• Prayer and Consuelo Day: On Sunday, in Teuchitlán, Jalisco, a special day will be held that will include a pilgrimage and the celebration of a Mass for the victims of violence and their families.