VATICAN CITY, JULY 4 (ZENIT.org) and CWNews.com

    "Vicente Fox will pass into history as initiator of an age" for Mexico, the Italian edition of the Vatican's official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, stated today, when reporting on the election of the new Mexican President.

    For the first time in 71 years a candidate of the opposition will be President of Mexico, a country that until now has been governed by representatives of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). By the time 93% of the votes had been counted, the Federal Electoral Institute said that Fox, of the PAN party, had a 7% lead over PRI candidate Francisco Labastida.

    Today the international agency "Fides" published an interview with Manuel Gomez, director of the Mexican Institute of Christian Social Doctrine, in which he states: "It is a historic event, unheard of, and unbelievable for many Mexicans. The long months of preparation have rewarded all the citizenship for all the work carried out with patience and constancy."

    According to Manuel Gomez, "without taking part in partisan politics, the Church has played a historic role." "Above all, the long years dedicated to the ethical and civil formation of Catholics and the broad awareness promoted among citizens; in second place, the Mexican Episcopate's recent messages: from the Meeting with Jesus Christ to Solidarity Among All (March 25, 2000) and the message "Democracy Cannot Happen Without You" (May 3, 2000); in third place, the intense Day of Prayer in favor of peace and reconciliation, in which all dioceses, the majority of parishes, 72 apostolic movements, 266 religious Congregations, and 264 contemplative monasteries participated."

    Speaking about the changes the Fox government will entail, Manuel Gomez said: "The change in government, scheduled for December 1, will not be like the waving of a magic wand that resolves all problems, but a change full of hopes to construct a new Mexico, in particular in regard to religious liberty. In Mexico today, one can already breathe and see a different attitude: enthusiastic, hopeful, of new commitment. Undoubtedly the recently canonized Mexican saints have much to do in this new historic moment." ZE00070411

    In the same vein CWN reports that Mexicans voted in astounding numbers on Sunday to elect a new government, rejecting the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) for the first time in 71 years, choosing instead a party seen as more friendly to the Catholic Church.

    Vicente Fox of the center-right National Action Party (PAN) was elected president of Mexico, while the coalition of PAN and the Green Party (PVEM) took control of Congress. Fox will be sworn in on December 1 while the new Congress will be seated on September 1.

    Restrictions on the Catholic Church in Mexico in the 1920s with the confiscation of Church property, a ban on Church involvement in public life, and finally persecution of clerics and laypeople. Many of the restrictions continued under the government of PRI with the restriction on the wearing of habits only being lifted in 1992. The country's constitution continues to restrict the bishops' ability to speak on political issues.

    With the election of Fox and other PAN candidates and the removal of PRI from power, many observers expect the restrictions on the Church to loosen further, especially since PAN had been connected to Catholic lay groups from its beginnings. Earlier this year, the Mexican bishops' conference issued a pastoral letter on the presidential elections, calling on Catholics to support life, which same interpreted as indicating a preference for Fox, who is pro-life.

    Fox, 58, is a former Coca-Cola executive who is expected to continue the free-market, free-trade policies of his predecessor President Ernesto Zedillo. As of Monday morning with 92 percent of the vote counted, Fox had won 43 percent followed by PRI's Francisco Labastida with 36 percent. The PAN-PVEM alliance took 38.5 percent of the vote in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, compared with 36 percent for PRI and 19 percent for the leftist coalition led by the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

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