Bishop from area plagued by violence in Mexico prays for peace at Guadalupe shrine

Ana Paula Morales   By Ana Paula Morales for CNA

November 10, 2023 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print

 

Bishop Cristobal Ascencio with pilgrims from the diocese of Apatzingán, Mexico, Nov. 8, 2023. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Insigne Nacional Basilica of Guadalupe

ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 10, 2023 / 19:00 pm (CNA).

A Mexican bishop from one of the regions hardest hit by drug trafficking violence recently made a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe basilica in Mexico City and at the feet of the Virgin implored peace.

Cristóbal Ascencio García, the bishop of Apatzingán located in the Mexican state of Michoacán, led the annual diocesan pilgrimage to the Guadalupe basilica on Nov. 8 with the theme “Pilgrims who cry out for peace.” Along with the more than 600 pilgrims who accompanied him, the prelate prayed to God that his cry for peace would reach “up to heaven.”

Apatzingán, a city located about 115 miles southwest of Morelia, the capital of the state of Michoacán, is one of the hardest hit by drug trafficking violence in the region, whose control is disputed by groups such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Family Michoacana, and the Knights Templar.

Zamora, the second-most violent city in the world in 2022 according to the ranking prepared by the Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice, is located about 100 miles north of Apatzingán. Uruapan, which is ranked seventh, is located about 65 miles to the northeast. The city of Morelia is in 33rd place.

In a Nov. 9 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner,  Ascencio said: “We greatly need peace in my diocese, because life is becoming impossible for many people and communities.”

The prelate noted that “all bishops” have “the commitment to promote” diocesan pilgrimages to the Guadalupe basilica.

At the beginning of the Mass, Ascencio noted that “rural communities in several parishes are suffering from violence, innocent people suffering and being displaced.”

“We come burdened with all that which we bring to pray for peace. We are pilgrims who ask God for peace: We want peace! So let this cry reach up to heaven and to all of us so that we can collaborate to sow peace in our communities,” he encouraged.

During his homily, Ascencio also prayed for those suffering from insecurity and violence, and for those who in some cases have been displaced from their places of origin.

“That is why we have come to ask the Virgin to illuminate hearts and give hope to those who are suffering the unspeakable, and to illuminate the hearts of all, so that we may be sowers of peace; and may she illuminate the minds and hearts of those responsible for citizen security,” he said.

The next day the pilgrims from the Diocese of Apatzingán visited the Shrine of Christ the King on Cerro del Cubilete in the Mexican state of Guanajuato.

The pilgrimage concludes on Nov. 10 with a Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan de Los Lagos in the state of Jalisco.

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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In Ecuador, pro-life groups protest U.N. abortion conditions on coronavirus aid.

May 17, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

CNA Staff, May 17, 2020 / 05:00 am (CNA).- Pro-life groups in Ecuador say that United Nations aid to combat the coronavirus pandemic should not require access to abortion as a condition for assistance.

On April 30, Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Relations and Human Mobility confirmed it had presented to the United Nations a $46.4 million budget request to implement the U.N.’s “Humanitarian Response Plan COVID-19” whose goal is “to support national response efforts and ensure the aid is delivered in an organized manner.”

One objective of the U.N. plan is to “maintain continuity of maternal, neonatal and children’s health and other sexual and reproductive health services during the pandemic.” These terms are understood to include access to abortion.

In addition, the plan aims to “sensitize and train healthcare personnel to implement the “Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for Reproductive Health in Crisis Situations” which includes promoting “access to contraception including emergency contraception, safe legal abortion and post-abortion care.”

Abortion is illegal in Ecuador, except when continued pregnancy threatens the life and health of a woman.

Against this background, Ecuadorian pro-lifers have launched a petition drive, calling on President Lenin Moreno to “not accept ideological interference by the UN.”

The citizen petition says that “in the face of the COVID-19 drama, the United Nations has offered to send humanitarian aid to Ecuador, but the aid is not free, since in various sections of the document it is explained that said aid is conditional on Ecuador legalizing abortion.”

“And it seems it has already begun to produce results because Ecuador is one of the 59 countries that in the midst of the pandemic has already committed to promote abortion,” the petition adds, referring to a May 6 joint declaration signed by a number of countries, including Ecuador “to protect sexual and reproductive health and rights and to promote gender-responsiveness” during the pandemic.

In an interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, Martha Villafuerte, who represents the Guayaquil Family Network, said the “fear is that our highest authority in Ecuador will even consider accepting this economic shakedown of $46 million in exchange for the lives of thousands of unborn children.”

Villafuerte said the U.N. plan “it goes against the Constitution, specifically article 45, which guarantees the right to life from conception, a right that was ratified last September 17 at the plenary session of the National Assembly.”

“The U.N. …intends to shakedown the country by offering it more than 46 million dollars, of which 3 million would go directly to ‘sensitize and to train health personnel on safe, legal abortion and post-abortion care  when this is expressly prohibited by law in Ecuador,” Villafuerte stressed.

Members of the National Assembly  “are already publicly denouncing the plan and expressing their objection to international organizations placing conditions on their financial contributions,” she added

Assemblyman Héctor Yépez tweeted  “Unbelievable! The UN conditions ‘safe legal abortion’ in its humanitarian support plan for Ecuador. While we all want to save lives, some insist on eliminating the lives of unborn girls and boys.”

In a statement to ACI Prensa, Yepez pointed out that the National Assembly had already “voted on abortion and the pro-life position won, preventing abortion from being legalized and protecting life from conception, as our Constitution says.”

“The UN must respect the Assembly’s decision, the sentiments of the majority of families in Ecuador and the right to life, which is inviolable,” he emphasized.

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