"Faith and Politics" Campaign Launched in Mexico

MEXICO CITY, NOV. 28, 2005 (Zenit.org).- In view of the 2006 presidential elections in Mexico, the bishops' Social-Caritas Pastoral Commission launched the "Faith and Politics" campaign throughout the country.

The Mexican bishops' conference, in a communiqué published on its Web page, said it "wants to collaborate with the many social actors to consolidate the democratic transition, in which progress was made with patience and intelligence thanks to the citizenry, especially in the year 2000."

The initiative hopes to promote an active presence among the agents of the Church's various pastoral programs, in an effort to get the citizenry involved in the electoral processes as well as in public and social policies.

The background of this campaign is the document "From the Encounter with Jesus Christ to Solidarity with All," published and disseminated by the bishops' conference in 2000. Political parties harshly criticized the document and its proposals.

The Faith and Politics campaign, which began today, consists of a series of actions to educate the citizenry about democratic culture, and to give it the tools it needs to be discerning when it votes in the July 2 elections.

The campaign includes the country's 15 pastoral regions and a package of methodological materials and instruments, for agents of the social-pastoral program, on citizens' participation.

According to the bishops' conference, the general objective of each workshop is "to foster, with the Church's pastoral program, processes of citizens' participation enlightened by the Gospel and the social doctrine of the Church."

The workshop's four steps cover 31 topics with the method of see-judge-act. Participants will reflect on, among other things, the demands of the common good and the electoral process.