Mexico City, Mexico, Sep 23, 2016 / 10:21 am
Mexican Cardinal Alberto Suárez Inda is offering prayers for the safety of a priest who was kidnapped in the country earlier this week.
Fr. José Alfredo López Guillén, pastor of Janamuato, was taken from the rectory of his parish by unknown persons on Monday, September 19. His whereabouts remain unknown, as does the motive for the kidnapping. His car was also stolen.
His abduction occurred on the same day that authorities found the lifeless bodies of previously-kidnapped Fathers Alejo Nabor Jiménez Juárez and José Alfredo Juárez de la Cruz, in the Diocese of Papantla, in Veracruz state.
In a video posted on YouTube Sept. 22, Cardinal Suárez said that "after sharing in the enormous pain over the murder of two young priests in the Diocese of Papantla in Veracruz, today we are suffering anguish firsthand over the disappearance, the kidnapping of one of our priests."
The cardinal offered prayers for the kidnapped priest and that the captors may "respect his person, his life, that he can return soon to the exercise of his ministry. We join in prayer for his family members and parishioners who are going through this distressing time."
"We ask God for peace, for respect for life, for the conversion of those who dedicate themselves to doing evil," he said.
"Our community suffers the death, the anguish of any one of our faithful. In this case, it's a good man, dedicated to doing good and who is peaceful. This barbarity is in no way justifiable, I ask for your prayers."