Mexican bishop says he’ll evangelize in prison if he’s locked up for ‘homophobia’
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.
