Mexican bishops urge lawmakers to resist calls for death penalty

Published: 2004-07-02

MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- As Mexico's politicians digest a recent anti-crime march in Mexico City that drew at least 250,000 people, church leaders are urging lawmakers to dismiss calls for the death penalty. Several church figures, including Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City, encouraged people to participate in the June 27 march, which was aimed at pressuring the government to crack down on rampant crime. And while the clergy did not join the hundreds of thousands of white-clad marchers, the 35 bells of Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral rang in solidarity with protesters gathered outside in the city's central plaza. However, the prominence of banners asking authorities to execute kidnappers and other serious crime offenders led church officials nationwide to publicly decry such proposals. "We need to look for solutions other than the death penalty, which could be life sentences or longer sentences," Auxiliary Bishop Rafael Martinez Sainz of Guadalajara told Mexican journalists June 29.

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