Mexican Bishops Sanitize Cristero Martyrdom with Conciliar Relativism
The EWTN News portal (August 6, 2026) reports that the Mexican Episcopal Conference, through its president “Bishop” Ramón Castro Castro and secretary-general “Bishop” Héctor Mario Pérez Villarreal, has issued a video message declaring the centennial of the Cristero War “a time of grace.” The “prelates” commemorate the “fidelity of a believing people” and “martyrs who did not kill for Christ but died for him,” explicitly rejecting the “exaltation of arms” and “idealization of violence.” They proclaim religious freedom as “the right of every human person” for “believers and nonbelievers alike,” insisting that “no conscience should be coerced, manipulated, or silenced.” The message culminates in a synodal appeal for a “Church that listens before speaking, that journeys together,” invoking Christ’s reign only “in our hearts” and the protection of “St. Mary of Guadalupe.” This episcopal declaration constitutes a doctrinal capitulation to liberalism, stripping the Cristero martyrdom of its social and regal significance to conform to the hermeneutic of the conciliar revolution.