• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Archbishop Franco Coppola, the apostolic nuncio to Mexico, gives a rosary to a child during a visit to Aguililla April 23, 2021. Drug cartels have battled each other and blocked highways in the besieged town, leaving residents unable to travel freely and causing shortages of everything from food to fuel. (CNS photo/Alan Ortega, Reuters)

Nuncio tells besieged Mexican town: The church is with you

April 27, 2021
By David Agren
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, Immigration and Migration, News, World News

A bust of Christ hangs from a wall next to a bullet impact at an abandoned home near Aguililla, Mexico, April 23, 2021. Drug cartels have battled each other and blocked highways in the town, leaving residents unable to travel freely and causing shortages of everything from food to fuel. (CNS photo/Alan Ortega, Reuters)

MEXICO CITY (CNS) — Archbishop Franco Coppola, papal ambassador to Mexico, recently traveled to a town besieged by warring drug cartels to reiterate the church’s commitment to serving populations suffering violence.

The ambassador, or nuncio, also wanted to raise awareness of the situation in Aguililla, a town in western Michoacán state, where drug cartels have battled each other and blocked highways, leaving residents unable to travel freely and causing shortages of everything from food to fuel.

“We in the church cannot get involved in war, but we can tend to the wounded, to the people. My visit is to make people feel the church is close, that they’re not alone and will not be abandoned,” the nuncio said in Aguililla, where he led a procession and celebrated Mass April 23 for the people. “The church must be at the side of the people, not fleeing.”

The nuncio’s visit to Aguililla offered a brief respite from the violence gripping the region, which is being disputed by rival criminal organizations: United Cartels and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The situation became so severe in Aguililla that eight bodies were found decapitated earlier in April and one cartel used a drone to drop explosives on the police. The nuncio said he shared news of the beheadings on social media and had his account temporarily suspended.

The visit also cast attention on the shocking violence of Mexico’s seemingly intractable problems with organized crime and the government’s preference to downplay what’s occurring.

Archbishop Coppola said functionaries in the Foreign Relations Secretariat asked, “Please don’t speak so much about violence in Mexico, it damages tourism.”

A spokesman for the Foreign Relations Secretariat said the request would have occurred in the administration of former President Enrique Peña Nieto, who left office Nov. 30, 2018.

Photographers take pictures of the bullet-riddled front of an abandoned house near Aguililla, Mexico, April 23, 2021. Drug cartels have battled each other and blocked highways in the town, leaving residents unable to travel freely and causing shortages of everything from food to fuel. (CNS photo/Alan Ortega, Reuters)

Current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the nuncio said, has sent letters to the pope asking for assistance with “the struggle against crime and violence in Mexico. … He’s asked me on various occasions for this, and the church is responding.”

The visit also highlighted the absence of the government in many conflictive corners of the country, which creates space for criminal groups to operate.

“It’s very important that what’s happening here is known. The bad guys take advantage of silence,” Archbishop Coppola continued. “In Italy, we know the mafia flourishes where the state isn’t (present). That’s where private interests try to take over.”

The nuncio traveled to Aguililla with Bishop Cristóbal Ascencio García of Apatzingán, taking a highway through communities hit hard by violence. Townspeople lined the route to see the churchmen travel through in a white pickup with Vatican flags and to receive blessings.

Mexican media reported state police operated five checkpoints on the highway, which had been either blocked or ripped up by criminal groups. The road closed again after the nuncio’s visit.

The situation has become so dire in Aguililla that Mexican media report more than 1,500 people have fled the region.

Father Andrés Larios, a priest in the Diocese of Apatzingán, said that on the same day as the nuncio’s visit, priests in Aguililla were asked to sign 20 letters for people wanting to request asylum in the United States.

Also see

A ‘nation of immigrants’ should identify with migrants’ plight and human dignity, says Boston cardinal

At U.S.-Mexico border, migrants’ advocates call for action on U.S. asylum policy

West Virginia parishes, people help Ukrainians find safe haven in Mountain State

Papal message to focus on people’s right not to migrate

Welcoming migrants, refugees is first step toward peace, pope says

US extends stay for thousands of Ukrainians as war enters second year

Copyright © 2021 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

David Agren

Catholic News Service is a leading agency for religious news. Its mission is to report fully, fairly and freely on the involvement of the church in the world today.

View all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history
  • Fire guts historic Catholic school in parish connected to St. John Neumann
  • RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints
  • Suspect pleads not guilty in murder of LA Auxiliary Bishop O’Connell
  • Movie Review: ‘John Wick: Chapter 4, a festival of fatality’

| Latest Local News |

Catholic Charities’ William J. McCarthy Jr. named Loyola’s Business Leader of the Year

Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94

Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history

| Latest World News |

National Eucharistic Revival aims to form disciples on mission with new Easter series

Laws, lawsuits and adult involvement needed to save kids from social media ‘harm,’ say experts

Confession is ‘encounter of love’ that fights evil, pope tells priests

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • National Eucharistic Revival aims to form disciples on mission with new Easter series
  • Confession is ‘encounter of love’ that fights evil, pope tells priests
  • Laws, lawsuits and adult involvement needed to save kids from social media ‘harm,’ say experts
  • Praying for healing for our pet
  • Jérôme Lejeune’s legacy advances ‘abundant life’ for people with Down syndrome in world and church
  • Texas parishioners affected by Ukrainian war, a wildfire have relied on faith, community to survive turmoil
  • Pope, World Council of Churches’ leaders talk about war, divisions
  • Pre-Vatican II Mass was formed by ‘clericalization,’ says papal preacher
  • Memorial to modern Christian martyrs opens in Rome

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED