Zürcher Nachrichten - 'So many murders': Pope mourns priests killed in Mexico

EUR -
AED 3.845874
AFN 70.674066
ALL 97.848497
AMD 406.661363
ANG 1.881594
AOA 954.929054
ARS 1054.672401
AUD 1.622423
AWG 1.887346
AZN 1.780922
BAM 1.942206
BBD 2.107896
BDT 124.756771
BGN 1.954476
BHD 0.39467
BIF 3031.270778
BMD 1.047071
BND 1.405734
BOB 7.214639
BRL 6.094064
BSD 1.043963
BTN 88.001358
BWP 14.243575
BYN 3.41662
BYR 20522.593176
BZD 2.10449
CAD 1.474271
CDF 3006.140949
CHF 0.929946
CLF 0.037093
CLP 1023.501392
CNY 7.593411
CNH 7.601689
COP 4611.018329
CRC 533.450854
CUC 1.047071
CUP 27.747384
CVE 110.413563
CZK 25.282471
DJF 186.085088
DKK 7.459015
DOP 63.241086
DZD 140.285547
EGP 51.9608
ERN 15.706066
ETB 129.260624
FJD 2.387951
FKP 0.826471
GBP 0.835092
GEL 2.85865
GGP 0.826471
GHS 16.438375
GIP 0.826471
GMD 74.34189
GNF 9036.223128
GTQ 8.057448
GYD 218.417029
HKD 8.149511
HNL 26.412373
HRK 7.469029
HTG 137.020279
HUF 410.878547
IDR 16672.826935
ILS 3.815359
IMP 0.826471
INR 88.270601
IQD 1372.186651
IRR 44068.606931
ISK 145.133954
JEP 0.826471
JMD 164.856098
JOD 0.742688
JPY 160.610139
KES 135.595163
KGS 90.888485
KHR 4240.638096
KMF 491.02418
KPW 942.363575
KRW 1463.344866
KWD 0.322236
KYD 0.870027
KZT 521.281361
LAK 22998.916606
LBP 93765.214756
LKR 304.016247
LRD 188.289578
LSL 18.888537
LTL 3.091729
LVL 0.633363
LYD 5.125386
MAD 10.50579
MDL 19.079816
MGA 4899.245644
MKD 61.542117
MMK 3400.846025
MNT 3557.947475
MOP 8.368584
MRU 41.793859
MUR 49.547263
MVR 16.177003
MWK 1817.715192
MXN 21.806271
MYR 4.66732
MZN 66.896979
NAD 18.888878
NGN 1771.926971
NIO 38.490247
NOK 11.71439
NPR 140.801776
NZD 1.798952
OMR 0.40313
PAB 1.044003
PEN 3.956097
PGK 4.156765
PHP 61.72273
PKR 290.823758
PLN 4.309902
PYG 8147.130203
QAR 3.811971
RON 4.976835
RSD 117.006008
RUB 110.457098
RWF 1435.534451
SAR 3.933975
SBD 8.785545
SCR 14.239048
SDG 629.812192
SEK 11.527981
SGD 1.411719
SHP 0.826471
SLE 23.766152
SLL 21956.56198
SOS 598.400886
SRD 37.071596
STD 21672.257337
SVC 9.13506
SYP 2630.797353
SZL 18.889327
THB 36.375347
TJS 11.155425
TMT 3.675219
TND 3.316336
TOP 2.452339
TRY 36.279133
TTD 7.098383
TWD 34.02405
TZS 2769.502683
UAH 43.377879
UGX 3867.963333
USD 1.047071
UYU 44.488604
UZS 13433.921708
VES 48.773334
VND 26611.311509
VUV 124.310383
WST 2.922994
XAF 651.409933
XAG 0.034443
XAU 0.000399
XCD 2.829762
XDR 0.798595
XOF 657.034899
XPF 119.331742
YER 261.68926
ZAR 19.065697
ZMK 9424.903205
ZMW 28.788769
ZWL 337.156461
  • RBGPF

    0.8100

    61

    +1.33%

  • RYCEF

    0.0300

    6.8

    +0.44%

  • CMSC

    -0.1700

    24.56

    -0.69%

  • SCS

    -0.1590

    13.561

    -1.17%

  • RIO

    -1.1350

    61.845

    -1.84%

  • NGG

    -0.4700

    62.79

    -0.75%

  • AZN

    -0.2550

    66.145

    -0.39%

  • RELX

    0.1600

    46.73

    +0.34%

  • VOD

    -0.0400

    8.87

    -0.45%

  • BCC

    -4.0450

    148.455

    -2.72%

  • JRI

    -0.0600

    13.31

    -0.45%

  • GSK

    -0.2340

    33.916

    -0.69%

  • BCE

    -0.3900

    26.63

    -1.46%

  • BTI

    0.2050

    37.535

    +0.55%

  • CMSD

    -0.1800

    24.4

    -0.74%

  • BP

    -0.4600

    28.86

    -1.59%

'So many murders': Pope mourns priests killed in Mexico
'So many murders': Pope mourns priests killed in Mexico / Photo: Alberto PIZZOLI - AFP

'So many murders': Pope mourns priests killed in Mexico

Pope Francis on Wednesday lamented the spiral of violence engulfing Mexico, after two Jesuit priests and a man seeking sanctuary were gunned down inside a church.

Text size:

The pope, himself a Jesuit, expressed sadness and dismay over the killings of men he called his "brothers" in the mountains of the northern state of Chihuahua.

"So many murders in Mexico. I am close, in affection and prayer, to the Catholic community affected by this tragedy," the pontiff said at the end of his weekly audience at the Vatican.

Priests Javier Campos, 79, and Joaquin Mora, 81, were shot dead in the town of Cerocahui on Monday "while trying to defend a man who was seeking refuge," according to the order also known as the Society of Jesus.

The pursued man, who worked as a tour guide, was also killed and his body taken away with those of the two priests.

About 30 priests have been killed in Mexico in the past decade, according to the Centro Catolico Multimedial, a Catholic organization.

More than 340,000 people have been killed in a wave of bloodshed in Mexico since the government deployed the army to fight drug cartels in 2006.

- Crime-ridden region -

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday that the alleged murderer had been identified and that a manhunt was under way.

The suspect, who was identified by another priest present in the church, was already wanted for the murder of a US tourist in 2018, he told reporters.

"That area of the mountains has for some time been infiltrated, penetrated, dominated by crime," Lopez Obrador said.

The three bodies were placed in the back of a pickup truck by armed men, covered with plastic and taken away, according to Father Luis Gerardo Moro Madrid, head of the Jesuits in Mexico.

"We demand justice and the recovery of the bodies," the order said.

Experts say Chihuahua is an important transit route for illegal drugs bound for the United States and violently contested between rival trafficking gangs.

Father Jorge Atilano Gonzalez, also a Jesuit, told a local television station the priests killed on Monday had attempted to intervene because they knew the assailant, who was from the area.

"He wanted to confess" after the shooting, he said, citing the testimony of the third priest present.

"What we believe is that he was in a state of alcoholism or addiction because of the reaction he had," he added.

- 'Important social work'

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico condemned the killings, saying the priests had carried out "important social and pastoral work" among the Raramuri, or Tarahumara, Indigenous people.

"The murder of these two well-known priests reminds us of the situation of extreme violence and vulnerability faced by the communities of the Sierra Tarahumara in Chihuahua," said UN human rights representative Guillermo Fernandez-Maldonado.

The Mexican Episcopal Conference called for a rapid investigation as well as increased security for the country's clergy.

It is common for religious leaders in Mexico to act as defenders of their communities and as mediators with criminal gangs operating there.

In states such as Michoacan and Guerrero, some have even entered into dialogue with drug traffickers in a bid to keep the peace in largely poor regions with little government presence.

T.Furrer--NZN