By David Ramos
Mexico City Newsroom, Jun 26, 2022 / 15:26 pm
"Our Mexico is being spattered in the blood of so many dead and disappeared," the Catholic Church in the country decried, remembering the thousands of victims of organized crime in the country, especially the two recently murdered Jesuit priests.
In a video message posted June 23, Bishop Ramón Castro Castro of Cuernavaca, secretary general of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference, referred to Pope Francis’ message of “sorrow and dismay” after learning of the death of the two Jesuit priests gunned down in the Sierra Tarahumara region of Chihuahua state.
“The bishops, as pastors, want to express in the same way all our closeness and the deep sorrow that we carry in our hearts. Now, as never before, the pain of the cross becomes more intense due to so much innocent blood spilled throughout the country,” Bishop Castro said.
Jesuit priests Javier Campos Morales and Joaquín César Mora Salazar were murdered June 20 inside the Catholic church of Cerocahui when they tried to protect an injured man who fled inside the church as he was being pursued by an armed assailant who then shot him and the two priests, killing all three.
The murderer has purportedly already been identified by the authorities, who have offered a reward of up to 5 million pesos (about $250,000) for information leading to his capture.
The crime, which is part of a growing wave of violence in Mexico, has shaken the country.
In just three and a half years of the López Obrador administration, there have already been more than 121,000 recorded homicides in the country, which is on track to exceed the more than 156,000 crimes committed during the six year term of his predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto.
From January 1 to June 21 of this year, according to official figures, 12,481 homicides have taken place in Mexico.
The secretary general of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference lamented that in Mexico "the rate of violence and its structures of death have overflowed and set themselves up in our communities, disfiguring the human person and destroying the culture of peace, a culture of peace that makes us brothers."
"Together with our people, we expect a response in keeping with the circumstances by the civil authorities at all levels," he said.
The prelate stressed that "it’s the responsibility of those who govern to seek justice and promote peace and harmony in social coexistence."
The priests who have died at the hands of organized crime identify "with the thousands of victims of our people who have met this end, with the tens of thousands of disappeared persons whose families continue to search for them."
“We would have to add the great deal of extortion and the total impunity prevailing throughout the country. This situation is already unbearable and demands and requires of us that we all bear fruits of peace,” Bishop Castro said.
The prelate said that the bishops also appeal "to those who are the cause of each and every one of the atrocious episodes of death and destruction against their own brothers."
“We remind them that we are part of the same people. We admonish them to stop killing their own brothers and violating social peace " he said.
"Recover the fear of God and let us make His Law prevail, which tells us 'You shall not kill,'" he exhorted.
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On behalf of the entire Church in Mexico, Bishop Castro asked the criminals: “in the name of God, be sensitive to the laments of your brothers, who are children of God, whose tears of suffering, helplessness, and restrained rage cry out to heaven.”
“We implore you, we beg you, we demand, in the name of God, enough of so much evil and hatred! We all want peace," he concluded.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
