Mexican bishop says he’ll evangelize in prison if he’s locked up for ‘homophobia’
The Catholic bishop of Cuernavaca, Mexico, is
being investigated in response to his opposition to the gay agenda, according
to national and local media sources, but he says if he goes to prison he’ll
take advantage of the opportunity to bring the Gospel of Christ to the inmates
there.
Bishop Ramón Castro has been informed that
he’s being investigated in response to a complaint by the socialist governor of
the state of Morelos, Graco Ramírez, for speaking out against the creation of
homosexual “marriage,” which was recently passed by the state legislature and
signed into law by Ramírez. He is accused of “homophobia,” according to Mexican
news outlets.
The bishop is reportedly accused of “meddling
in politics” for denouncing the gay agenda on numerous occasions, as well as
for organizing a meeting at the Cathedral of Cuernavaca for the purpose of
hearing the complaints of various civil organizations about the crisis of
violence and criminality affecting the state. His accusers reportedly claim
that he used the meeting to organize opposition to homosexual “marriage.”
“If I go to prison, no problem, I’ll do the
work of evangelization there,” the bishop told his flock during a sermon at the
cathedral in mid-August, and added that he wished to “thank the Bar Association
of Cuernavaca, which has shown solidarity by coming to my defense.”
The bishop told worshippers that the kingdom
of God is not established without opposition because it denounces injustice,
corruption, and poverty, according to the local Sol de
Cuaulta newspaper.
“Jesus said, ‘I have come to bring fire and
divisions,’ referring to the consequences of living a firm and real commitment
to the Gospel,” the newspaper quoted Castro as saying. “The presence of Jesus
in our lives isn’t a matter of indifference to us, nor to those who surround
us. If it were, we would have to doubt that it was anything but a superficial
veneer.”
The Mexican constitution prohibits religious
ministers from “entering in associations for political purposes,” supporting or
opposing candidates for public office, or opposing government institutions or laws.
The provisions are the remnants of the strongly anti-clerical provisions of
Mexico’s 1917 constitution, which helped to incite civil war in the country in
the 1920s and 30s.
Castro denies that he violated the law and
says he merely agreed to hear the complaints of various civil organizations
over problems suffered in the state, particularly problems related to violence
and corruption, and that the meeting was not called to address the issue of
homosexual “marriage.”
“The Church has a mission to carry out. I in
no way have meddled in politics. I only received people in the cathedral to
listen to them. I didn’t convoke anyone,” Castro said in a television
interview.
Castro also had a complaint lodged against him
by the homosexual Movement for Equality in Mexico (MOViiMX) to the National
Council for the Prevention of Discrimination (CONAPRED) about HIS participation
in a recent “March for Peace” in Morelos. The group quoted him as saying that
state representatives “sold their consciences” in approving the state’s
homosexual “marriage” constitutional amendment.
The accusations have not discouraged Bishop
Castro from expressing his opposition to the gay agenda, however. He was
notably present at the recent March for
the Family in
Cuernavaca organized to protest against a national homosexual “marriage”constitutional
amendment proposed
by the nation’s president.
