In what is already shaping up to be one of the most forceful and courageous ecclesiastical pronouncements in recent years, the bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of Chiapas have raised a unanimous cry of faith, justice, and hope from the altar of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The leaders of the dioceses of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Tapachula, and Tuxtla Gutiérrez took advantage of their pilgrimage to the spiritual heart of the country to stir the national conscience through the document  “Message of the Bishops at the Basilica of Guadalupe, May 31, 2026. ”

“We carry on our feet the dust of the roads… and in our hearts, the cry of a land blessed by God, but wounded by the selfish hand of humankind,” the prelates expressed, making it clear that a living Church cannot remain indifferent to the fear and pain of its people.

The “five wounds” that are bleeding the state dry

Evoking the historic indigenous tilma of Juan Diego, the bishops diagnosed that the reality of Chiapas today is “torn” by five structural wounds that the authorities have not wanted or have not been able to heal:

• The scourge of violence and insecurity:  They openly denounced that criminal groups maintain absolute territorial control, imposing a “culture of death” through extortion and the deprivation of freedom. They warned that the tragedy of forced displacement continues to destroy families.
• The wound of forced disappearance:  A pain described as eternal for the families and groups of searching mothers, who resist at the foot of the cross in the face of “the silence and complicity of some authorities and the cruelty of the perpetrators.”
• The wound of ancestral poverty:  They recalled that Chiapas continues to be the face of misery in Mexico, clarifying that it is not due to a lack of resources, but to a system of exclusion that denies health, decent education and integral development.
• The migratory drama:  The region has become an ordeal for both foreign refugees and young people from Chiapas, who, fleeing the lack of opportunities, end up as cannon fodder for trafficking networks and labor or sexual exploitation.
• Damage to the “Common Home”:  They described as “ecological sins” the indiscriminate plundering of minerals, the pollution of rivers and the permitted deforestation for the profit of a few.

An ultimatum to crime and a demand on power

The manifesto of the Ecclesiastical Province of Chiapas abandons diplomatic half-measures and moves to direct action. In a message unprecedented in its firmness, they looked the perpetrators of violence straight in the eye:  “In the name of God, we ask you: Stop! Do not stain your hands any longer with the blood of your brothers ,” warning them that, although divine judgment is inevitable, mercy demands reparation.

“Power is for serving, not for self-serving. It is time to settle the historical debt with Chiapas through actions that respect the dignity of the people and not just with welfare programs that do not address the root of poverty.”

Likewise, the bishops called on young people to become “artisans of peace” and reject the easy money of organized crime, while ordering their parishes to act as “field hospitals” to provide refuge and pastoral care for all victims.

The historic document concludes with a call for peaceful and spiritual resistance under the motto:  “Chiapas, rise up and walk in truth, with solidarity and justice!” The manifesto is signed by Bishops Rodrigo Aguilar Martínez, José Francisco González González, Luis Manuel López Alfaro, and José Luis Mendoza Corzo.

Read the full document here.