BANDITRY IN MEXICO.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 2 May 1927, Page 7

BANDITRY IN MEXICO.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST CLERICS. DENIED BY BISHOP LISTON. By Telegraph—Press Association. AUCKLAND, May 1. Speaking at St. Bendedict’s this morning, His Lordship, Bishop Liston made the following comments on recent cables from Mexico:— “Those cables aro wholly unreliable. They aro sent out by a Government that has exiled or imprisoned nearly all the Bishops, put to death many priests and men and women, confiscated all church property, closed all Catholic churches, hospitals, orphanages and schools, and .in the Bolshevist manner is making war on religion. It is easier for a camel to pass through the evo of a needle than for a cable unfavourable to this Government to leave the country. Further, the statement that the victims were returning from Holy "Week ceremonies in Mexico City discredits the whole story. Since August, there have been no public services ip any Catholic Church of Mexico, and the Government law since January forbids priests to say. mass alone in their homos. Again, if the Government has incontestable proofs that bishops are responsible for the murder of hundreds of people, why ho content with exiling them? Why not court-martial and shoot them? Wo can bo sure the bishops would wcicomc a fair trial, and are being exiled unwillingly. Their leader, the Archbishop of Mexico, is, according to the New York ‘World,’ a frail, ascetic, rrpiitle old man, all spirituality, but only his body is frail. In courage and nobility of soul he measures up to the full height of Morcier. He would not willingly desert his people or fail to defend liis honour. Ho and his brother bishops have always counselled patience, prudence, and obedience to the laws so far as conscience allows, and have bidden their people to look for help to praver ajul not be arms. -