Lula, Brazilian ex-president, thanks Pope Francis for solidarity after convictions nullified

Chilpancingo, Mexico, Jul 18, 2019 / 11:01 pm (CNA).- The bishop of one of Mexico’s most violent areas has said that Wednesday’s sentencing of drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera to life in prison plus 30 years is proper and prudent.

Guzmán, known as “El Chapo”, is a fomer head of the Sinaloa Cartel. He was sentenced July 17 by a judge in New York, after having been found guilty of 10 charges, including drug trafficking and money laundering.

“I believe there is justice by God and human justice,” Bishop Salvador Rangel Mendoza of Chilpancingo-Chilapa told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language sister agency.

“I believe he was properly judged. I have more confidence in American laws than Mexican, and I believe that they judged it to be prudent to give him life in prison plus 30 years,” Bishop Rangel stated.

Guzmán’s sentence “is the fruit of the criminal acts he committed, and in particular I believe this should help many other criminals to see that sooner or later they will have to face justice and the we all have to answer for the evil deeds we have done,” the bishop said.

“I believe it’s a just sentence given to that man and especially so it’s an example for everyone else.”

“Hopefully this will also rein in crime a bit here in Mexico,” he added.

Guzmán had been captured by Mexican authorities in 2014, but escaped from a maximum security prison in July 2015. He was re-captured in Junary 2016, and extradited to the US in 2017.

In addition to his prison sentence, Guzmán was also ordered to pay $12.6 billion in forfeiture.

The Department of Justice said that the drug trafficker’s trial brought out the methods used by the Sinaloa Cartel to transport tons of drugs to the United States as well as the violence the organization  “relied on to maintain its power throughout the region and beyond.”

Mexico faces much violent crime, often related to drug trafficking. According to the Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice, 15 of the 50 most violent cities in the world during 2018 were in Mexico.

According to the Mexican daily El Universal, the first six months of 2019 have been the most violent on record in Mexico’s history.

Bishop Rangel lamented that “the circumstances in Mexico are very tough. I believe what does the most harm is the corruption in the different levels of government, as well as in society itself, in business.”

“In the end, what’s predominating is political and economic expediency, and I believe these criminal gangs will hardly go away as long as we don’t get to the root of the problem: for example, the lack of opportunities in education and the economy,” he said.

For the Mexican prelate it is critical “to remake the social fabric, which has unraveled for us. And this, as we know, can only be achieved on the basis of principles and values.”

“We must shore up values within the family, the school, society, the Church. We must all aim at those values, because unfortunately we have generations lacking those values.”

After noting the violence with which organized crime tortures and murders it victims, Bishop Rangel stated that “we must teach them that we must love life, respect it, and care for it.”

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The bishop of Santa Clara, Arturo González Amador (center) was elected as the new president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba. He is accompanied in the photo by the conference’s vice president, Matanzas Bishop Juan Gabriel Díaz Ruiz (left) and the conference’s new secretary general, Auxiliary Bishop of Havana Eloy Ricardo Domínguez Martínez (right). / Credit: Courtesy of Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 12, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba (COCC, by its Spanish acronym) met in Havana from Nov. 4–7 for its 164th Ordinary Assembly and chose new leaders for the next three-year period from 2024 to 2027.

Bishop Arturo González Amador of Santa Clara was elected president; Bishop Juan Gabriel Díaz Ruiz of Matanzas was elected vice president; and Bishop Eloy Ricardo Domínguez Martínez, auxiliary bishop of Havana, was chosen as secretary-general.

The meeting took place weeks after hurricanes Oscar and Rafael lashed the island, leaving extensive damage and six people dead in its wake, according to the Cuban government. 

The island has been caught in a spiral of hunger, blackouts, and political repression after the calamities, exacerbated by the deplorable state of public services in the country after 65 years of communism.

The bishops reflected on the aftermath of these events, noting the generally “bleak outlook” but also highlighting “the testimonies of charity, help, and solidarity that are also palpable.”

During the meeting, “there has been constant prayer for the Cuban people and their growing needs these days,” they indicated.

“While the assembly was taking place, we received news of the impact, the landslides and destruction that Hurricane Rafael was leaving in the areas through which it passed,” the prelates said.

The bishops extolled the aid work of Caritas “to achieve a more effective recovery” in the most affected regions.

Turning to other issues, the plenary assembly of bishops approved a new version of the “Manual of Procedures for the Prevention of Abuse of Minors and Vulnerable Adults” in response to the recommendations and modifications of the latest documents issued by the Holy See on the subject.

Planning for Jubilee Year 2025 

The Cuban bishops also addressed various “ideas and initiatives to be developed” with a view to the Jubilee Year 2025 called by Pope Francis.

According to the COCC’s official website, during the meeting the prelates saw the need to “foster and give special attention to the celebrations that will take place in the local Churches, underlining the fundamental dimensions of the jubilee: conversion, penance and sacramental confession, works of mercy, pilgrimages to the shrines, the gift of indulgences, and the strong call to revitalize hope.”

Also during the assembly, the bishops met with a delegation from the Catholic Church in Poland, headed by the bishop of Kielce, Jan Piotrowsk, who visited the country at the invitation of the COCC.

According to the island’s bishops, this was an opportunity to thank the Polish Church for the work of its missionaries in the Caribbean country.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Pope Francis makes the Sign of the Cross April 18, 2018. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

Vatican City, Sep 5, 2021 / 07:00 am (CNA).
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