Pastoral

The Mexican Episcopate issued last week a pastoral letter signed by Archbishop Jose Maria Del Rio in which the encouragement of Pope Pius XI was extended to the Catholics of Mexico, embattled against the enforcement of the anti-religious Mexican Constitution by President Calles (TIME, Feb. 22 et seq.) :

"Venerable brethren and beloved children, the Holy Father, through us, makes known to you that your grief is his grief and advises you that with you he also will join in the happiness of triumph and reminds you that, great as your sorrow may be, and if life appears intolerable, you must not become disheartened, for if you are to accompany Jesus Christ in His sorrow you will equally participate in His victories. . . .

"For the first time, after 400 years, the Eternal Priest is absent from the house of God. Jesus Christ who day and night was to be found in each of our temples carrying on His mission as Saviour, and now with him the priest, has had to retire. Your minister has had to retire, the intermediary between heaven and earth, who teaches the doctrines of the Redeemer, who regenerated your children with the waters of baptism who pardoned your faults and healed your sorrows, who lifted heavenward the Body of Christ offered in the Sacrifice, who gave ( you the bread of the strong, who blessed your chaste loves, who assisted at the bed of your dying and who prayed at the tomb ol your deceased. . . ."