With Mexico ‘bled dry by violence, confused by ideologies,’ Church prays for deliverance

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 17, 2025 / 08:00 am

In a country “bled dry by violence, confused by ideologies, and threatened in its institutions,” the Catholic Church offered a prayer “to God and to our Most Holy Mother of Guadalupe”: “Long live Mexico!”

The Mexican Bishops’ Conference made the prayer in their most recent statemen t on the occasion of the Mexican national holiday, which commemorates the beginning of the country’s struggle for independence on Sept. 16, 1810.

Noting that the proclamation “Long live Mexico!” would be heard in the main squares of cities across the country commemorating the “Grito de Dolores” (Cry of Dolores) with which Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo initiated the drive for independence from Spain, the bishops said this slogan would be chanted by Mexicans “in ever