Three priests have been kidnapped and killed in Mexico in just a few days, raising the death toll of clergy murdered in the country to 15 in less than four years.
Fr Alejo Nabor Jiménez Juárez and Fr José Alfredo Suárez de la Cruz were dragged at gunpoint out of Our Lady of Fatima parish in Poza Rica, a Gulf Coast oil city in Veracruz state that has been consumed by crime in recent years.
Local media reported that the men were found a day after their abduction. They were left beside a highway with their hands and feet bound. They had been beaten and had gunshot wounds, according to reports.
A day after their bodies were discovered, another priest was abducted in the state of Michoacan. Fr José Alfredo López Guillén, who was taken by force after his residence and the parish were robbed, was found dead on Sunday.
Cardinal Alberto Suárez Inda of Morelia said in a video message that the priest was a “good man, dedicated to doing good and peaceful, which is why this barbarism cannot be justified in any way”.
State officials said that five men participated in the abductions of the two murdered priests and one of the suspect’s identities was known. Robbery was cited as a motive, according to local reports.
The Mexican bishops’ conference said: “In these moments of pain, impotence and tragedy provoked by violence, we raise our prayers to the heavens for the eternal rest of our brothers and implore to the Lord the conversion of the aggressors.
“Of the authorities, we await the clarification of the acts and the application of those responsible.”
Pope Francis gives surprise backing to Mexican bishops
Pope Francis has endorsed pro-family marches in Mexico, taking by surprise people who saw his speeches in the country in February as being critical of the Mexican hierarchy.
“Today Pope Francis has filled us with joy, he has said a few words … so that all those working in favour of the family feel heartened and comforted,” Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera said at Mass.
The National Front for the Family estimated that 215,000 protesters marched in Mexico City, where a city government at odds with the archdiocese has approved same-sex marriage laws and the decriminalisation of abortion in the past decade. Local officials estimated a smaller number. Around 20,000 attended a counter-protest.
Reciting the Angelus in St Peter’s Square on Sunday, Pope Francis said he was “very happy to associate myself with the bishops of Mexico in supporting the commitment of the Church and civil society on behalf of the family and of life, which in this time require special pastoral and cultural attention throughout the world”.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto submitted a bill to Congress in May seeking approval for same-sex marriages nationwide.
World’s oldest prelate dies at 104
Archbishop Emeritus Peter Gerety of Newark, New Jersey, has died aged 104.
Newark Archbishop John Meyers said he was “a remarkable churchman” who led the diocese at a “time of spiritual reawakening in the years after the Second Vatican Council, and a time of deep financial difficulties”. Archbishop Gerety, born in Connecticut in 1912, led campaigns against legalised abortion and defended the rights of conscientious objectors in the Vietnam War.
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