With the 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer playoffs as a backdrop, Ramón Castro Castro, bishop of Cuernavaca and president of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, called on Catholics to work together, affirming that in the Church, “we have Jesus Christ as our captain.”
In his homily during Mass on Sunday, June 14, at the Cuernavaca cathedral, Castro noted that the World Cup “is an event that reminds us that no championship is won alone.”
“No matter how excellent the soccer players are, they cannot succeed alone. Teamwork is required, as are discipline, constant effort, adherence to the rules, and … mutual trust.”
In the realm of sports, he said, “we have an example for the Church: We are playing the greatest match in history, we have Jesus Christ as our captain, and we must work together and trust one another, above all knowing that the Holy Spirit is in our midst, strengthening, encouraging, and transforming us.”
The FIFA World Cup is being hosted this year by Mexico, the United States, and Canada from June 11 to July 19. Thirteen of the matches are scheduled to be held in the Mexican cities of Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara.
‘Christ sees people’s hidden pain’
In his homily, Castro also highlighted that “Christ sees people’s hidden pain; Christ sees the wounds of our personal history and of our families.”
The Lord, he continued, “sees the loneliness of the elderly, sees the uncertainty of many young people, sees the anguish of those who find no meaning in their lives, the suffering of the poorest; he sees the victims of violence, sees those who have lost hope.”
“That compassion includes all this and more, because we are his special treasure,” he emphasized.
The Mexican people, he lamented, are “weary and disheartened” by “violence, insecurity, extortion, corruption, mistrust in society, family breakdown, and religious indifference.”
“God sees this, feels it, and, we might say, suffers because he loves us, because he sees his treasure wounded; he looks upon these realities and he doesn’t look at them from afar, but looking upon them with his love and mercy and his heart feels compassion for all of this,” he noted.
In this context, Castro affirmed that “God never tires of us, never; he certainly does not resign himself to our wounds and sins” and “never ceases to love his people.”
‘There is a tremendous spiritual hunger’
The Mexican prelate highlighted that “God knows there is an enormous need for workers in his vineyard,” as “there is a tremendous spiritual hunger; the emptiness of the heart and that hunger remain intense.”
“There are so many people who live without faith or appear to live without faith, yet deep down in their hearts, they continue to seek the meaning of their lives, continue to seek hope, and continue to seek love,” he noted.
“When Jesus says that laborers are lacking, he’s not referring only to priests and religious — no,” Castro clarified, for “we also need committed laypeople, generous young people who respond; we need holy families, we need convinced catechists, we need laypeople who love their Church.”
Reflecting on the calling of the Twelve Apostles, the bishop of Cuernavaca noted that Jesus “did not choose the most perfect” individuals; rather, they were “very simple people, simple fishermen, courageous and impulsive men, people with very difficult temperaments, and even a traitor.”
“We sometimes think that God chooses only saints to serve him,” the bishop said, but “the Gospel tells us otherwise: God calls fragile people to transform them into instruments of his grace.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
