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February 16, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Mexico’s top bishop, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, is calling on Catholic voters to make their choices in favor of the right to life and the preservation of the natural family, in a new declaration issued by Rivera and the auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Mexico City.

The declaration is being issued as the national elections approach, in which Mexicans will not only choose their local and state representatives, but also Mexico’s president for the next six years.

Noting the “responsibility of the lay faithful to participate in the construction of the democratic life of the country,” Rivera declares that “Catholics must be attentive to the commitment of the candidates and their parties to respect the first of all rights, which is the right to LIFE, from the moment of conception to natural death.”

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Rivera also instructs Catholics to “take into account” other values, among which he includes “the promotion and strengthening of the family, keeping in mind that marriage constituted between a man and a woman are the foundation of human and Christian society, promoting the education of new generations in moral and civic values for their integration in the social development of our country.”

“The vote of the Christian faithful must assume a moral responsibility,” Rivera states. “That is to say, it must be consistent with the dictates of their conscience and of their faith, and cannot be separated from their political choices, because politics can contradict justice and truth.”

“Therefore, it is also the obligation of the Pastors of the People of God to advise the faithful regarding those political proposals that, for their religious, moral, and social implications, contradict the teachings of the Catholic Church (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, No. 426), with the objective that their political choices be moral and just.”

The declaration also lists education, social justice, the struggle against corruption and organized crime, and environmental concerns as policies of interest to Catholics in making their voting decisions.

Rivera’s advisory follows in the wake of years of anti-life and anti-family policies implemented in Mexico City by the socialist government, including the legalization and subsidization of abortion on demand during the first trimester of pregnancy, homosexual “marriage,” and “express divorce.”

Although the majority of the residents of the country’s Federal District are nominally Catholic, there is widespread indifference and even rejection of the Church’s teaching on the right to life, sexual morality, and family values. Mass attendance on Sundays is low.