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Bishop Raúl Vera retires today as head of the Saltillo diocese. He was always outspoken and quick to denounce corruption and human rights violations – rare in Mexico, where Catholic leaders have preferred collaborating with politicians to obtain favours 1/ https://www.catholicnews.com/to-care-for-the-sheep-confront-the-wolf-says-retired-mexican-bishop/#.YBQjh_HCe20.twitter
Vera's retirement marks the end of an era in the Mexican Catholic Church. He was the last of a group of bishops inspired by Liberation Theology – many of whom were relegated to minor dioceses or punished during the papacy of John Paul II. 2/ https://thetablet.org/mexicos-bishop-of-the-poor-dies-of-covid-19-complications/
Vera was coadjutor under Bishop Samuel Ruiz in San Cristóbal de las Casas –meaning he was supposed to be Ruiz's successor– but was shipped to Saltillo in 2000 after local elites and politicians complained of his preference for Ruiz's ministry focused on indigenous populations 3/
Others at the time were rewarded for eradicating any vestiges of Liberation Theology. Cardinal Norberto Rivera, who became archbishop of Mexico City after closing a seminary in Tehuacán, Puebla, which trained priests for poor and indigenous dioceses in southeastern Mexico 4/
In Saltillo, Vera became seen as the political opposition in a state with one-party PRI rule. Publications aligned with the PRI regularly attacked him and other progressive priests 5/ https://www.milenio.com/politica/humberto-moreira-deberia-conciencia-raul-vera
Elites in Saltillo largely stopped donating to the diocese, according to sources. They also bypassed Vera – with a controversial former governor inviting Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City to celebrate the baptism of his daughter 6/ https://www.animalpolitico.com/cuna-de-grillos/video-norberto-rivera-bautiza-a-la-hija-de-humberto-moreira/
Vera worked with the families of 2006 Pasta de Conchos mine disaster, which killed 66. He denounced the owner, union and gov't for negligence. The bishop of Piedras Negras later banned him from saying Mass at the site (part of Vera's diocese until 2003) for the families 7/
The Diocese of Saltillo opened a human rights centre under Vera, which worked with one of the first collectives of families, who formed search parties to look for their loved ones missing in Mexico’s drug war 8/
