Cardinal encourages Mexicans to demand authorities bring criminals to justice

Jan 5, 2026 / 18:02 pm (CNA).

Cardinal José Francisco Robles Ortega, archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico, said that authorities have a “mandate to protect us” from violence and therefore encouraged the population to “demand” that they fulfill their duty.

“Bringing to justice those who commit violence, those who commit homicides or injustices, that is the responsibility of the authorities,” he said at a Jan. 1 press conference, according to the Archdiocese of Guadalajara’s press office.

The cardinal also denounced the fact that small-business owners are being extorted, pointing out that they “now don’t earn” enough “even to pay the protection money” demanded by criminals, which is why “many are closing their small businesses.”

Furthermore, to confront the violence, the cardinal reminded everyone that “peace is born and nurtured in the heart of each and every person,” since all forms of violence have the same point of origin, “from those who commit violence with an offensive word to those who commit violence by firing a weapon at a brother.”

In this way, each citizen’s contribution to ending violence begins with “being at peace in our own hearts, in harmony with God and his loving and merciful plan.”

It is also important “that families pay attention to what their children are doing, who they are associating with, and what opportunities they are being offered,” said the archbishop, who considered it “distressing that organized crime is recruiting teenagers who often do not find acceptance, support, or protection within their families.”

Despite a significant decrease in homicides in 2025, reaching the lowest figure in a decade, Mexico remains a country heavily affected by violence, especially from organized crime.

Impunity is one of the most serious factors in the fight against crime in Mexico. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), in 2024, “93.2% of the 33.5 million crimes that occurred were not reported, or the authorities did not open an investigation file. This underreporting is known as the dark figure of crime.”

In the list of the 50 most violent cities in the world in 2024, 20 cities were in Mexico.

Cristero centennial

Robles also spoke about the activities planned to commemorate on July 31 the 100th anniversary of the entry into force of the so-called “Calles Law,” the legislation that severely restricted Catholic worship in Mexico and triggered the spontaneous armed uprising of believers in various parts of the country, known as the Cristero War.

Jalisco was one of the regions where Catholics offered the most resistance to the violence and anticlerical measures of the Mexican federal government.

The centennial was noted by the Mexican Bishops’ Conference in its Nov. 13, 2025, message to the people of God titled “The Church in Mexico: Memory and Prophecy — Pilgrims of Hope Towards the Centenary of Our Martyrs.”

On that occasion, the conference expressed its desire to honor “the memory of the more than 200,000 martyrs who gave their lives defending their faith: children, young people, and the elderly; farmers, laborers, and professionals; priests, religious, and laypeople.”

The archbishop of Guadalajara recalled that failing to respect the “fundamental right” to religious freedom “was the cause of the uprising of the Cristero War.”

Referring again to organized crime, the cardinal pointed out that “violence does not solve anything, violence makes things worse, violence opens wounds that do not heal even with the passage of time.”

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

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/268893/cardinal-encourages-mexicans-to-demand-authorities-bring-criminals-to- justice