World News
Church officials laud Mexican presidential vote
Published: July 3, 2012
MEXICO CITY (CNS) -- The Mexican bishops' conference expressed satisfaction with "the exemplary participation of citizens" in the July 1 federal elections, which returned the once long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party to power. "As pastors of the Catholic Church, we are pleased to notice that our call to go to the polls in a conscious and free manner was heard by the Catholic faithful and by men and women of good will in our country," the bishops said in a statement released late July 1 and signed by conference president Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes of Tlalnepantla and secretary-general Auxiliary Bishop Victor Rene Rodriguez Gomez of Texcoco. "We are joyful witnesses to the civility and republican conviction demonstrated during the election process," the statement continued. "We're pleased that democracy has been recognized as the privileged path for achieving the peace, justice and development that Mexicans long for." The bishops offered congratulations to the victors without mentioning names or parties. Mexican voters opted for Enrique Pena Nieto, 45, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which showed anti-clerical tendencies in the last century and traces its founding to 1920s Cristero Rebellion.
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