When The Pope Speaks To The U.S. About Humanity, Is Mexico Listening?

Open borders and the Catholic elite

By Michelle Malkin • April 18, 2008 11:09 AM

During his visit this week, the Pope has made repeated comments critical of immigration enforcement efforts–such as they are–in the U.S. His primary concerns are not the sovereignty and security of our country. Open borders benefit Catholic churches looking to fill their pews and collection baskets. The Vatican and American bishops, led by radical L.A. Cardinal Roger Mahony, have long promoted immigration anarchy and lawlesness. Their campaign continues:

Festival teaches Mexican heritage, organizers say

By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times
Photo by Mark Lambie / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 12/14/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

Teens portraying Joseph and Mary were followed by angels, the three wise men and a mariachi band as they filed into a San Jacinto Plaza on a pleasant Thursday evening during the 16th annual Downtown Posada Festival.

The festival featured musical performances by students from the Lydia Patterson Institute, bringing to life Las Posadas, a colorful Mexican Christmas tradition started during Colonial times, that represents Joseph and Mary's search for shelter in Bethlehem.

The binational festival, sponsored in part by the Mexican Consulate, was an opportunity to share holiday celebrations across the Rio Grande.

"About 70 percent of our students are from Juárez ... .It's very important because it's their culture. They know what Christmas is about. It's about the birth of Jesus Christ," said Monica Rueda, assistant counselor at Lydia Patterson Institute, which is Downtown.

Mexico Catholic Church tells doctors not to perform abortions under new law

By Mark Stevenson

ASSOCIATED PRESS

4:41 p.m. April 29, 2007

MEXICO CITY – The Roman Catholic Church on Sunday called on doctors in Mexico City not to perform abortions and lamented the city's decision to legalize the procedure in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The church has vowed to continue its anti-abortion campaign even through it is under investigation for possibly violating Mexican laws forbidding the church's participation in politics.

Mexico City officials have said doctors at city-run hospitals cannot refuse to perform abortions based on personal moral objection, but in a letter read at Sunday Mass, Cardinal Norberto Rivera said they could.

“We call on all of those of good conscience not to be responsible for the abominable act,” the letter stated. “We remind the doctors, nurses, health care workers and all those affected by this unjust law, that they can invoke their human right to conscientious objection.”

Plan to legalize first-term abortion sparks showdown in Mexico City

Lawmakers to vote on measure Tuesday

By S. Lynne Walker

COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

April 22, 2007

MEXICO CITY – Bomb threats. Protests. Vows by Catholic bishops that legislators, doctors and women will be excommunicated.

As Mexico City lawmakers prepare to vote Tuesday on legalizing first-trimester abortions in the nation's capital, the Catholic Church and anti-abortion groups are waging an emotional campaign against the measure that is pushing the city to the brink of violent confrontation.

Several council members have received death threats in recent days. The colonial building in downtown Mexico City where they will vote was the target of a bomb threat. And police are blocking downtown streets in response to daily protests.

Mexicans March to Support Abortion Law

Mar 30, 12:21 AM EDT
By CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
Associated Press Writer

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Several thousand women marched through the Mexican capital in support of a bill to legalize abortion in the first three months of pregnancy, a proposal that has drawn harsh criticism from the Roman Catholic Church.

About 3,000 protesters led by city legislators from various political parties on Thursday shouted "Freedom to choose!" and criticized President Felipe Calderon, a social conservative who has spoken out against the reform.

"A woman can decide to have an abortion or not have it, but it's her decision," said former presidential candidate Patricia Mercado, a leftist and feminist. "A secular state has the obligation to give the right to women to take this decision in the best conditions."

Debate heats up as Congress debates new anti abortion bill

By Ioan Grillo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

8:30 a.m. March 287, 2007

MEXICO CITY – Leftist lawmakers sent Congress a bill to legalize abortion on Tuesday, the third such recent proposal in Mexico where the issue has divided the nation and drawn interest from the Vatican.

Under the bill filed in the lower house by the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, the second-largest force in Congress, women would be able to have an abortion within the first three months of pregnancy.

“We are in favor of women's life. We don't want women to stop their pregnancies...but we have a stubborn reality,” said Rep. Maricela Contreras.

PRD senators and legislators in Mexico City's assembly have both filed similar bills recently sparking virulent criticism from the Roman Catholic Church and conservative National Action Party of Felipe Calderón.

Mexican Catholics protest abortion measure, as liberals pledge legalization

By Lisa J. Adams
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AP Photo
5:31 p.m. March 25, 2007

MEXICO CITY – Reciting the rosary and chanting prayers, several thousand abortion opponents summoned by Mexico's Roman Catholic Church marched through the capital on Sunday to oppose a proposal to legalize the procedure in the first three months of pregnancy.

The abortion bill, proposed by the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, is sure to launch a protracted fight between liberal lawmakers and conservative forces in a nation where about 90 percent of people are at least nominally Catholic. Current Mexican law allows abortion only if the woman's life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest.

Though I do not agree with the Mexican Catholic Church on many points of doctrine, I pray for their success to prevent the needless slaughter of the innocents for the sake of convenience. -mm

Vatican Pushing Mexico in Abortion Fight

Mar 24, 1:22 AM EDT

By JULIE WATSON
Associated Press Writer
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The Vatican's top anti-abortion campaigner kicked off the Roman Catholic Church's aggressive campaign against plans to legalize abortion in Mexico Friday.

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo inaugurated an international anti-abortion conference by giving a Mass at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the most important Catholic shrine in the Americas.

In a prayer to the Virgin of Guadalupe before about 300 people, many carrying flags from other Latin American countries, Lopez Trujillo asked for the strengthening of women "so they can teach their children moral values" but didn't speak directly against abortion.

The campaign pushes the limit of Mexico's constitutional ban on political activity by religious groups. It is also drawing President Felipe Calderon, a conservative who opposes abortion, into a showdown with leftists spearheading the bills to legalize abortion.

Mexican churches from united front against abortion bill

By E. Eduardo Castillo

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:06 p.m. March 22, 2007

MEXICO CITY – Yelling “Yes to life, no to abortion!” Roman Catholic and anti-abortion groups marched Thursday in downtown Mexico City to protest bills to legalize abortion in Mexico, an issue that has divided the nation and drawn in conservative President Felipe Calderón.

United under the “We Are Life” movement, more than 500 people marched from the cathedral to the building of the Mexico City Congress, where lawmakers from the left and center are pushing for the reforms to allow abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

Mexico's capital plans to legalize abortion

(2007-03-14)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico City is preparing to legalize abortion -- the first region to do so in heavily Roman Catholic Mexico -- a move the influential church has vowed to challenge.

A bill that would allow abortions in the first three months of pregnancy is making its way through the capital city's assembly and supporters say they have well over the majority needed to pass it despite threats of protests by the Catholic Church. The measure is expected to pass within months and the first legal abortions could happen later this year.

"No church, no religion can impose its vision of the world in this city," said assembly leader Victor Hugo Cirigo, whose leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution runs City Hall and holds 34 of 66 city legislative seats.

Attorney: LA Court Has No Legal Right To Try Mexican Cardinal

Lawsuit Accuses Cardinal Of Molestation, Rape
POSTED: 3:11 pm PST February 25, 2007
UPDATED: 3:46 pm PST February 25, 2007

MEXICO CITY -- A court in Los Angeles has no legal right to try Mexico's most prominent cardinal in connection with alleged child molesting and rape by a Mexican priest, the cardinal's lawyer said Sunday.

Bernardo Fernandez, who represents Cardinal Norberto Rivera, said only a Mexican court has the authority to rule on the lawsuit.

"The plaintiff is Mexican, complaining about alleged acts that happened in Mexico City in 1994, and the suit is against Mexicans," Fernandez told reporters after Rivera gave Sunday mass in the capital's metropolitan cathedral. "Mexican tribunals should oversee this case."