For those who have lost loved ones to Covid-19, celebrations will not be the same this year. But they will still remember the souls who have passed on to new life.

In Mexico, where both organized and petty crime has exploded to unprecedented levels, vigilante justice has become increasingly common; citizens who gun down assailants during robbery attempts often make headlines as heroes.

Amid the tensions in Mexico — which include the president’s opponents camping out in the heart of the capital — the Archdiocese of Mexico City published an editorial Oct. 11, saying, “It appears the pope is speaking directly to Mexico when he says politics is being used as a mechanism to exasperate and polarize in many countries.”

"Pandemics and disasters are like springtime for phony priests," said Rodolfo Soriano-Núñez, a sociologist who studies the Mexican church.

“Asylum on the border is pretty much impossible,” a legal advocate with the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, said. “Covid is being used as an excuse to close the border.”

Sister Norma Pimentel says that migrants that come for help ask for safety as well as sustenance.