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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2007 
President's Vatican Visit Irrelevant for Mexicans
 Angus Reid
| | Pope Benedict XVI looks at a teddy bear received from one of the children of President of Mexico Felipe Calderon, at the Vatican, Monday June 4, 2007. (AP/Danilo Schiavella) |
A majority of people in Mexico approve of their president’s recent trip to the Vatican, but think it provides no benefits to the country, according to a poll by Reforma. 67 per cent of respondents support Felipe Calderón’s visit, but 68 per cent consider it mostly irrelevant.
Mexican voters chose their new president in July 2006. Official results placed Calderón of the National Action Party (PAN) as the winner with 36.68 per cent of all cast ballots, followed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) with 36.11 per cent. Calderón - a former energy secretary - took over as Mexico’s head of state in December.
On Jun. 4, Calderón met with Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican’s press office issued a brief statement, deeming the talks as "cordial." The two men discussed a wide range of issues affecting Mexico, such as emigration, poverty, drug trafficking, and the status of indigenous peoples.
Mexico’s 1917 Constitution effectively banned the clergy from playing a role in the country’s political affairs. In 1992, the Latin American country restored diplomatic ties with the Vatican, during the government of Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
In May, during a visit to Brazil, Benedict XVI was asked about the views of Mexican Church leaders, who have threatened to excommunicate the Mexico City lawmakers who approved a proposal to allow abortion in the first 12 weeks of gestation. The Pope declared: "Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by canon (church) law which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving communion, which is receiving the body of Christ."
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi clarified the pontiff’s statement, saying, "Since excommunication hasn’t been declared by the Mexican bishops, the Pope has no intention himself of declaring it. Legislative action in favour of abortion is incompatible with participation in the Eucharist. Politicians exclude themselves from communion."
Polling Data
Do you approve or disapprove of Mexican president Felipe Calderón’s visit to The Vatican?
Approve - 67% | Disapprove - 25% | Not sure - 8%
Do you think Calderón’s visit be beneficial to Mexico, or will be mostly irrelevant?
Mostly irrelevant - 68% | Will be beneficial - 27% | Not sure - 8%
Source: Reforma
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 850 Mexican adults, conducted on May 26, 2007. Margin of error is 3.4 per cent. |
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