Cancún’s 100+ Churches on Illegal Land

Cancún, Mexico — The city of Cancún currently has at least 100 Catholic churches without legal certainty because they are located in irregular settlements, according to Pedro Pablo Elizondo Cárdenas, the bishop of the Cancún-Chetumal Diocese.

Interviewed on Monday afternoon in Cancún, the bishop stated that, until just a few months ago, a total of 113 irregular settlements had been detected in the city, and the majority of them had a Catholic church, built by the residents themselves.

He indicated that Cancún is the city in the state with the highest incidence of this problem, thereby surpassing Playa del Carmen and Chetumal.

He noted that churches that are "in order" mostly occupy lots donated by the State or, alternatively, land that has been provided through a comodato (loan for use) agreement by the Municipality or the Federal government; a contract that, he said, "is renewed at the start of each administration."

The bishop specified that in almost all cases where the regularization of the lots occupied by the churches has been achieved, the neighbors have been responsible for pressuring the authorities to guarantee legal certainty.

"The people go looking, they go insisting, they go pressuring and the authorities respond to that pressure. It depends on the authorities, not on the church," he concluded.