Catholic Church says Mexico's economic system creates poverty and violence

Mexico's economic system has produced extreme poverty, unemployment, low wages, layoffs, discrimination and forced migration, leading to high levels of violence in the country, the Mexican Catholic Church said in an editorial.

"It would be worth it to devote special attention to the factors behind the extreme poverty and social exclusion that are present among a large part of the Mexican population and that constitute a medium for violence and hate," the Archdiocese of Mexico City said in Sunday's edition of Desde la fe.

Mexican bishops have warned that the economic system is behind these factors, "and attention is urgently needed to more effectively address this difficult situation," the editorial said.

Mexico's institutions "appear too weak and vulnerable in the face of pressure from criminal organizations, which have ended up defeating and corrupting everything," the editorial said.

Society also cannot ignore the "substantial costs" in terms of "the legality and morality of the actions of the security forces in this country, mainly in the area of violations of human rights, as has been seen clearly on some occasions," the editorial said.