Mexico’s most visible church leader in Jalisco wants families to favor tradition over trend this season. After Sunday Mass in Guadalajara, Cardinal José Francisco Robles framed Day of the Dead as a living practice—one parents teach their kids—while adding that the Church proposes, not imposes. He also weighed in on schools, praising a new dropout-reduction plan and nudging teachers to keep the focus on classrooms. The message landed weeks before altars bloom with cempasúchil and the Halloween costumes hit the streets.
Guadalajara — A week before costumes and candy flood store aisles, Cardinal José Francisco Robles used his Sunday pulpit to ask families to center Mexico’s own traditions. The archbishop of Guadalajara urged people to Day of the Dead rather than Halloween, calling the November remembrances a practice that parents pass down at home. He stressed the Church “proposes” culture and values; it doesn’t order anyone how to celebrate.
He made the remarks after Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral, echoing a line he has repeated in past years: honor the saints, remember the departed, and let families decide. Local daily El Occidental captured the thrust of the message and noted he also addressed schools and teachers’ work during a post-Mass scrum with reporters.
Day of the Dead
Robles’ appeal lands as ofrendas begin to rise across Jalisco. Day of the Dead spans Nov. 1–2, tied to All Saints and All Souls, and recognized by UNESCO as an element of living heritage for the way communities welcome the memory of their dead. The Church’s push, he said, is to sustain what already belongs to people’s daily life, not to police costumes.
The cardinal also drew a line between celebration and behavior. Reporters in Guadalajara quoted him saying the Church cannot forbid Halloween, but will keep proposing its own calendar and meaning. That fits with his long-standing view dating back at least to 2022, when he likewise urged avoiding imported traditions that add little to civic life.
Teachers, protests and a dropout plan
Away from altars and marigolds, Robles switched to schools. He backed the new federal program “La escuela te extraña,” which sends principals and teachers to contact teens who leave high school, while cautioning that classrooms still need teachers present and teaching. He suggested protest absences undercut that goal.
What is the plan, exactly? The Education Ministry’s rollout says educators will reach out—calls or home visits—to students who vanish after winter break, a period when dropouts spike. Unions and individual teachers have voiced workload concerns, but the policy’s aim is simple: bring teenagers back.
Robles framed both messages—tradition and schooling—as the same kind of civic homework. Families, he said, are the first place kids learn what matters. The Church will keep offering its calendar and its memory work; parents choose how to live it. Reporters who heard him Sunday in Guadalajara left with a seasonal headline, yes, but also a reminder: culture is taught at home, and the classroom still needs its teachers.
