Catholic Church in Mexico convokes National Dialogue for Peace

Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Mexico. | Credit: Eduardo Berdejo/ACI Prensa

Jan 19, 2026 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Catholic Church in Mexico will bring together more than 1,000 leaders from various fields for the second edition of the National Dialogue for Peace to be held Jan. 30–Feb. 1 at the campus of ITESO Jesuit university in Guadalajara, Jalisco state.

A statement by the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, (CEM, by its Spanish acronym) indicated that 1,370 people will participate in the event, including bishops, priests, and Catholic laypeople; victims of violence, university students, business leaders, government officials, intellectuals, experts, and people of different religious faiths.

The National Dialogue for Peace, in addition to the CEM, is sponsored by the Bishops’ Commission for the Laity, the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious Orders in Mexico, and the Jesuits of Mexico.

The statement emphasized that this edition of the National Dialogue for Peace will not simply be “an event” but “the beginning of a decisive decade for Mexico.”

The urgent need for this dialogue became clear after the murder of Jesuit priests Javier Campos and Joaquín Mora, who were trying to protect tour guide Pedro Palma in Cerocahui, Chihuahua state, in June 2022.

According to the statement, the incident “added to hundreds of thousands of murders and disappearances in the country [and] triggered the largest listening movement in Mexico’s recent history: more than a thousand forums throughout the national territory that documented more than 20,000 testimonies of victims, Indigenous communities, young people, business leaders, academics, churches, and civil organizations.”

“This process gave rise to the National Peace Agenda, the most comprehensive and participatory assessment of the violence crisis in Mexico, which revealed extensive territories where the state no longer governs and where violence has become the only law,” the statement explained.

As part of the process, the press release noted, participants emphasized that “without truth and justice for the victims, there is no peace for anyone.”

“Mexico is not condemned to violence. Peace is possible, it is measurable, and it must begin today,” the CEM affirmed.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language news service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.