In the closing of its CXIX Plenary Assembly, held from November 10 to 14, 2025, in Cuautitlán Izcalli, the bishops of the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM) have issued a message that could more aptly be considered a pastoral letter to the People of God. Titled «Church in Mexico: Memory and Prophecy — Pilgrims of Hope toward the Centenary of our Martyrs,» the document not only outlines a jubilee itinerary from 2025 to 2033, but also frankly denounces the evils plaguing the country and harshly criticizes the current political system. In a context of endemic violence, impunity, and institutional erosion, the shepherds call for a national conversion, evoking the Cristera movement as a mirror of faithful resistance to Christ the King.
With gratitude to God and humble recognition, the bishops ask forgiveness for failures in pastoral accompaniment and position themselves as «people with the people.» Under the pontificate of Leo XIV, they emphasize ecclesial unity and world peace as inseparable axes. But the prophetic core emerges in diagnosing the Mexican reality: «We live in difficult times, violence has become everyday.» They denounce the «cancer of organized crime» that controls territories, with murders, disappearances, systematic extortions, and forced displacements. Priests, nuns, and laity are victims; young people are recruited for horror. «The State has ceded territorial control to criminal groups and fails to recover them,» they affirm, contrasting official narratives of reduced violence with the daily terror of families and communities.
The critique of the political system is incisive and not partisan, but evangelical. «They tell us that violence has decreased, but many families experience a different reality.» They accuse impunity in scandalous corruption, a failed economy that leaves basic baskets empty and youth unemployment, violated freedoms for critics, and the destruction of democratic institutions to concentrate arbitrary power. «We have seen how they have destroyed the bodies that guaranteed citizen participation,» they declare, lamenting a country «under the dominion of the violent.» Forced migration, with Mexicans fleeing and Central Americans victims of trafficking, is another face of the crucified Christ. The bishops promise presence in shelters and defense of rights, but demand conversion: «All this speaks to us of social degradation.»
In the wounded heart of society, the family suffers systematic de-structuring. Educational policies impose anthropological visions that relativize the complementarity of man-woman, dilute identities, and promote ideological confrontation, without dialogue with parents. «They are denied the fundamental right to participate in the education of their children,» they criticize, labeling as «deconstruction of human nature» what is sold as progress. They call for an integral family pastoral to counter addictions, intrafamily violence, and disintegration.
The historical axis is the centenary of the Cristera resistance in 2026, elevated to a «providential event.» Just months after the publication of the encyclical Quas Primas by Pius XI (1925), the Calles Law unleashed persecution in 1926, provoking the uprising of 1927. «Long live Christ the King!» was the cry of 200,000 martyrs –children, peasants, priests– who rejected the totalitarian State. «No human power can claim absolute sovereignty over the person and conscience,» they remind. It is not nostalgia: it is interpellation. «Are we willing to defend our faith with the same radicalism?» They ask if we have lost the sacred in the face of a culture that relegates faith to the private.
This legacy drives the ecclesial commitment from 2025 to 2031-2033: Jubilee of Hope, Cristera memory, V Centenary of Guadalupe and Bimillennium of the Redemption. With 38 catecheses «Thy Kingdom Come,» they prepare to proclaim Christ the King before modern idols: power, money, violence. Under Guadalupe, a bridge of reconciliation, they invite pilgrimage toward justice and peace. «We do not have the solution, but we are willing to seek it in dialogue with all who love Mexico.»
In summary, the bishops do not remain silent before a Mexico wounded by violence, corruption, and dehumanizing ideologies. Evoking the Cristeros, they commit the Church as a prophetic witness of hope. Long live Christ the King! still cries out, urging conversion for a future of certainty for Mexico. The call is not an armed uprising, but the radicalism of the Gospel and achieving the conversion of the Mexican nation.
The message is clear: The Catholic Church is no longer cornered in the sacristy. It is present in every corner of Mexican territory. It knows the pains and hopes. Remembering the martyrs is not nostalgia, it is interpellation and knows that its role in history is not simply to be a comfortable spectator while the world overflows into crisis. As the bishops rightly affirm in the message: “We must not wait for the totalitarian State to become benevolent… We must resist with the strength of faith”.