Mexican bishops submit ‘Indigenous liturgical adaptations’ to the Vatican for approval

Faithful Catholics of the Diocese of León, Nicaragua, participate in the annual procession of the image of Our Lady of Mercy, the patroness of the diocese, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022. / Photo courtesy of the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Mercy

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Pro-lifers march in Colombia on May 4, 2024, in the country’s capital, Bogotá, and other cities and towns throughout the country. / Credit: Eduardo Berdejo/ACI Prensa

ACI Prensa Staff, May 6, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

Under the theme “Colombia, With Life There Is Hope,” tens of thousands of Colombians took to the streets May 4 in more than 110 cities and towns during the South American country’s 18th National March for Life, according to the United for Life platform, which organized the event.

The marchers called on Colombia’s Constitutional Court to annul its rulings that decriminalized and subsequently liberalized abortion.

United for Life was also joined by multiple pro-life organizations, including 40 Days for Life, the Men’s Rosary, and Rachel’s Vineyard, as well as dioceses, nuns, priests, families, and numerous laypeople.

The simultaneous pro-life demonstrations took place in Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Cúcuta, Montería, Pereira, Cumaral, and scores of other cities.

In Bogotá, the marchers departed from the National Park and went down 7th Street until reaching Plaza Bolívar in the center of the Colombian capital.

In front of the thousands of people holding light blue flags and wearing blue neckerchiefs — the color of the pro-life movement — the president of United for Life, Jesús Magaña, read a manifesto in which he decried the “close to 20,000 abortions that have taken place in the city of Bogotá alone,” which amounts to “20 times more than other causes of violent deaths.”

Magaña also warned that the Constitutional Court intends to “say that abortion is a fundamental right, against the entire letter and spirit of our constitution, the feelings of the Colombian people, and signed international treaties.”

“We are unwilling to remain silent and stand by in the face of the largest massacre in the country,” he declared.

“Which is why,” he said, “as citizens of Colombia who love, respect, and defend life, we have mobilized in 114 cities throughout the country to fill the streets and squares and proclaim firmly, loudly, and clearly that life is sacred, that it must be respected and cared for from the moment of fertilization until natural death.”

In addition to abortion, the pro-life leader pointed out that Colombia’s survival is in danger from “euthanasia, suicide, and structural conditions that deny life.”

The United for Life manifesto demanded that the Constitutional Court annul its pro-abortion rulings C-355 of 2006 and C-055 of 2022, “which are producing a terrible holocaust.” In addition, the organization urged the Legislature to shelve “euthanasia bills” and pass “laws that protect life,” pregnancy, motherhood, and the family.

The manifesto also demanded the Legislature “defeat bill 270 of 2024 that prohibits parents from choosing the best psychological treatment for their children according to their convictions, values, and principles.”

The text also called for forceful action against child sexual exploitation and support for “women with crisis or unexpected pregnancies through well-funded public policies.”

‘The only lord of life is God’

Among those who addressed the participants was Father Laureano Barón, a priest of the Archdiocese of Bogotá who emphasized that “the only lord of life is God, from natural conception to natural death.”

“Let everyone know that Colombia is a pro-life country,” he said, encouraging prayers for the conversion of “all those who try to implement and carry forward projects that cause the death of the innocent.”

“We wish evil on no one. We ask that God touch their hearts,” Barón said.

United for Life noted that in 2023 alone, “according to figures, 52,000 elective abortions occurred in Colombia.”

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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Barinas, Venezuela, Aug 8, 2017 / 03:40 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The crisis in Venezuela continues to deepen following elections for a Constituent Assembly promoted by President Nicolás Maduro. In its wake, the bishops of the country, supported by the Vatican, have continued to speak out against potential fraud in the elections and to demand an immediate solution.

Bishop José Luis Azuaje Ayala of Barinas, vice president of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference, told CNA that “we are very concerned about the complexity of the situation,” above all “because of the moral degradation that has become present in the country”.

“There is large number of murders that, according to the national prosecution, number 121 deaths. Of these, 25 percent have been murdered by state security agencies and 40 percent by groups of armed civilians sympathetic to the regime. There are more than 1,500 wounded, with more than thousands of detainees, in little more than three months, give us a hellish picture that would make any person or institution worried about the lives of citizens at stake,” he said.

The United Nations Human Rights Office has warned the Venezuelan government over the use of excessive force against protesters.

This disorder and violence is compounded by the shortage of basic products such as food and medicines, which “is the result of dire governmental policies, of improvisation, of wanting to establish a socialism without humanist support, and in its place generating a permanent conflict plagued by corruption and violence,” Bishop Azuaje said.

Bishop Azuaje affirmed that all bishops of the country “hold the hope that every historical process has a beginning and an end” and “that what happens to us is not eternal, but is destroyed as time goes on.”

They hope this despite the fact that “every day we feel a greater repression of the government through different state agencies or feel the same because of fear of certain groups. It is forming anarchy in the national consciousness; that is to say, the government has lost its legitimacy and authority. “

Constituent Assembly and constraints

The prelate, like much of the international community, is convinced of fraud in the electoral process surrounding elections for a national Constituent Assembly. The process, initiated by president Maduro, will reform the constitution, which opposition members claim will allow Maduro to remain in power indefinitely.

The assembly has already removed from office attorney general Luisa Ortega Diaz, who had faulted the Supreme Court for stripping the National Assembly of its powers earlier this year.

Last week, the company Smartmatic, which is in charge of the electronic voting system for the election, confirmed manipulation of electoral results. The bishop said the revelation “did not surprise us.”

“On Sunday, (July) 30 we could see with our eyes the small amount of participation of the people in the elections. In this way a direct, informal, but experiential audit was made,” Bishop Azuaje explained.

“Before six o’clock in the afternoon, which was the official time of the closing of the tables, they sent to speak to one of the observers of the National Electoral Council to announce that there was an immense number of people remaining still in lines to vote, and the vote was extended for another hour. I looked at the school that is close to the diocesan see where there were several polling stations and it looked like a desert. They tried to make people believe that there were voters at that time. There’s nothing more false. It was like the official announcement of fraud. “

After the election it was also revealed that “before and during the electoral process for the Constituent Assembly, many people were coerced and threatened to attend to vote,” the bishop alleged. “There are stories of people who are Catholic, are part of our parishes and almost confess as if it was an unforgivable sin. They feel humiliated because their freedom was restricted, because they were threatened that they would lose their jobs or benefits received in government social programs.”

Dialogue with the Vatican

The representative of the bishops’ conference also addressed the Vatican-facilitated dialogue process that took place in Venezuela between the government and the opposition in 2016.

The bishop denounced the result, which, in his view, was “a feigned dialogue on the part of the government without any result.”

“Whenever this government has been at a disadvantage, it has asked to dialogue; but it is always the same script: dialogue is used to gain time and advance in the hegemonic project of totalitarianism and greater power of domination,” Bishop Azuaje stated.

“The Holy See has always been aware of what is happening in the country. Both Pope Francis and the Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, are well informed of the country’s problems. They have always been willing to mediate, and we thank them for that. But experiences teach. The failed dialogue from October to December has taught that governments like this should have something more than goodwill,” he said categorically.

He also explained that the Vatican “has reminded the government that to return to the table, they must meet what was agreed in October of last year, and recorded by Cardinal Parolin in the letter addressed to President Maduro on December 1, 2016.”

This agreement states that the government must commit to “setting an electoral calendar, the release of political prisoners, the opening of a humanitarian channel to let food and medicines enter the country, and return power to the National Assembly.”

In the bishop’s view, the real solution involves a “total change of government through general elections,” perhaps beginning with a “possible transitional national government.”

However, he noted that “we can not forget justice” because “there has been a lot of corruption and violence” and “those responsible for this can not be left uninvestigated.”

Regardless of how the political situation in Venezuela ends, however, Catholics must live and react to the crisis facing the country.

“A Catholic in the circumstances in which we live must be a permanent promoter of the common good, solidarity, and justice,” the bishop advised. “It is not a time of adornment, but of going to the essential, to what gives meaning to life.”

“We know that nothing will be easy when working for the good of the community, but Christians have a fundamental belief that the power of the Holy Spirit  not only animates us, but enlightens us in walking the narrow way. It offers us challenges, but it gives us its strength, ” Bishop Azuaje said.

“I want to go to the extreme of saying that a Catholic can not bend to exclusionary policies, much less the voracious corruption that exists in the country, nor raise his hand to strike the dignity of anyone,” he added.

“A committed Catholic should demand justice and work for the people with the sole interest of developing processes that lead to greater human development,” the bishop urged.

Alvaro de Juana contributed to this report.

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