The Mexican bishops' conference condemned a “violent disruption” that took place during Easter Mass in Mexico City.
They denounced the incident in a message released April 25.
This act
is an attack on the faith of the majority of Mexicans and exacerbates
the “climate of uncertainty, violence and lack of security that has
become a scourge for Mexico,” the bishops stated.
The disruption took place Easter Sunday at the Cathedral of Mexico
City.
Seven people interrupted Mass by shouting epithets against the
Church and destroying a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Just before the gospel reading, the individuals stormed into the
cathedral with megaphones and began shouting insults against the Church
and Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City.
They were quickly detained
by security guards.
The secretary general of the bishops’ conference, Bishop Victor
Rodriguez Gomez, published a statement the next day expressing
solidarity with Cardinal Rivera and lamenting the “unfortunate events”
that took place.
He said the bishops are concerned about the growing frequency of
disruptions that are occurring, especially at Mexico City's cathedral.
He noted that 29 similar incidents have taken place there in recent
months.
Civil authorities “have yet to enact effective measures for preventing such incidents,” he added.
Mexico City’s attorney general, Miguel Angel Mancera, said April 25
that the seven people arrested for the disruption were released after
investigators determined that the property they destroyed did not belong
to the church.
“They were investigated for property damage but it was
determined that the statue of the Virgin Mary that was destroyed was one
they had carried into the cathedral themselves,” he told reporters.
Mancera said all seven were members of a religious sect known as “The House of God.”