Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

So many murders': Pope laments killing of two priests in Mexico

24/06/2022

So many murders': Pope laments killing of two priests in MexicoPope Francis on Wednesday, expressed sadness and dismay after the killings of two priests, and a man seeking sanctuary inside a church

by Agence France-Presse

24-06-2022 08:42

in Christian Connect

Pope Francis speaks during the weekly general audience on 22 June, 2022 at St. Peter's square in The Vatican. Photo: Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

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.

--

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. ALSO READ: Historic moment': Finally, EU grants candidate status' to Ukraine

KILLING OF PRIESTS IN MEXICO 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, identified as tour guide Pedro Palma, was also killed and his body taken away with those of the two priests.

Chihuahua state governor Maru Campos later confirmed that the three men's bodies had been found.

We have managed to locate and recover the bodies of the Jesuit priests Javier Campos and Joaquin Mora, and of the tour guide Pedro Palma,

Maru Campos said in a video posted to social media. The identity of the victims was confirmed by forensic experts, while the state prosecutor's office announced a reward of $250 000 for information leading to the capture of the alleged murderer.

--

Authorities have identified as a suspect a 30-year-old man already wanted over the murder of an American tourist in 2018.

The prosecutor's office said on Wednesday that before the murders, the suspect had assaulted two other people after a disagreement over a baseball game.

He later kidnapped Palma, who managed to escape and ran into the church seeking help.

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

Crime-ridden region Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday that a manhunt was under way for the alleged murderer.

The suspect was identified by another priest present in the church, 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, 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. ALSO READ: Johnson's Tories crushed in twin UK parliamentary by-elections

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.

Agence France-Presse

Banking with TymeBank: Here's what you need to know. CLICK HERE!
LINK: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/culture/christian-connect/killing-of-p...
See more stories from thesouthafrican

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/07/2026

Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camerabag collection for modern hybrid creators

Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...

01/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition

Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition Brie Clayton July 1, 2026 0 Comments Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...

01/07/2026

Riedel, SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration WithSimplyLive Integration

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

PlayBox Technology Publishes State of Broadcast Infrastru...

PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...

01/07/2026

Jigsaw24 Appoints Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media a...

LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...

01/07/2026

Content Vault Partner with XMA to Distribute Universal Fi...

Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...

01/07/2026

Bitcentral Announces Strategic Evolution to Create Two F...

Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...

01/07/2026

Adder Technology Names Neil Hillier as CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

IBCAP Opens New Anti-Piracy Lab in Denver

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

FCC Plans to Auction 160 MHZ of Mid-Band Spectrum

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

CBS Miami Launches 'Hope 4 Venezuela' Relief Effort

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through national partnership

Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through nation...

01/07/2026

Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Experience for Live Broadcast Production

Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Expe...

01/07/2026

Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive

Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersiv...

01/07/2026

Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinity Photo

Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinit...

01/07/2026

FIFA World Cup delivers strong audiences across all RT platforms

9.2 million streams on RT Player between 11 and 28 June Reach of 2.9 million viewers during Group stages of FIFA World Cup on RT 2 23 million video views acr...

30/06/2026

Entries open for Thomson's Young Journalist Award 2026

Could your journalism reach an international stage? Entries are now open for the Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award 2026, one of the most prestigi...

30/06/2026

CazTVs 12 ENG Teams Across North America Keep Brazilian Fans on Top of World Cup

As Brazil's only way for fans to see all 104 matches, YouTube channel proves the power of digital...

30/06/2026

UJAM release Retrocraft multi-effects

Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...

30/06/2026

Zensphere v2 from Rapid Flow

New IR reverb engine, Juno-inspired chorus & more The latest version of Rapid Flow's hardware-emulation synth plug-in expands on its predecessor with a ...

30/06/2026

Shy Audio release Shy 90s Smack

Excels at heavy-handed VCA compression For their latest release, Shy Audio have recreated the crunchy' sound of a rackmount compressor that found its w...

30/06/2026

Apple raise Mac & iPad prices

Component scarcity drives cost increases Shortly after Apple's CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that cost increases would soon be inevitable , the company hav...

30/06/2026

Statement regarding GetUp Save Our SBS' campaign

Statement regarding GetUp Save Our SBS' campaign 30 June, 2026 Media releases The GetUp Save Our SBS' campaign is an independent initiative. SBS ...

30/06/2026

The First Hitachi Cash Recycling Devices in the EU Were Deployed at Bank Pekao S.A.

Hitachi and Bank Pekao S.A. have completed the installation of the first Hitachi...

30/06/2026

Clear-Com Upgrades Communication Systems for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......

30/06/2026

Telemundo, Peacock See More Record Setting World Cup Audiences

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

FOR-A America Adds Two Execs to U.S. Sales Team

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

A3SA Disputes Weigel Assertions that NextGen TV Threatens EAS

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

MainStreaming Selected by ITV to Support Delivery of ITVX...

MainStreaming, the award-winning and innovative Edge Video Delivery Network, today announced that it has been selected by ITV to support the delivery of ITVX, I...

30/06/2026

Chyron Launches New Chyron Academy

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Clear-Com Upgrades Communication Systems for Jeopardy and...

When Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! needed to upgrade their wireless communications system, they turned to Clear-Com FreeSpeak wireless for their iconic televi...

30/06/2026

Supreme Court Gives Trump Tight Control over Independent Regulators

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Rocket Lab to Acquire Iridium in $8 Billion Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Kyocera AVX Releases New Web-Based Antenna Integration Tool

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

YouTube Shorts Get a Makeover

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Rise Announces 2026 Worldwide Mentoring Cohorts

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Other World Computing Launches New Atlas Core Line with 256GB CFExpress 4.0 Type B Memory Card

Other World Computing Launches New Atlas Core Line with 256GB CFExpress 4.0 Type...

30/06/2026

DaVinci Resolve Studio Used for Taketoshi Sado's Perfume Cold Sleep -25 years Document-

DaVinci Resolve Studio Used for Taketoshi Sado's Perfume Cold Sleep -25 year...

30/06/2026

NVIDIA BioNeMo Agent Toolkit Brings Accelerated AI to Life Sciences Researchers in Claude Science

Life sciences has entered an era of computational scale, and for more than a dec...

30/06/2026

FOR-A America Expands U.S. Sales Team to Accelerate Growth of Software-Defined Solutions

Fernando Cruz and Jaz Wray Join as Regional Sales Managers; Bringing Extensive S...

30/06/2026

How NVIDIA's Inference Software Stack Powers the Lowest Token Cost

As organizations move from AI pilots to production AI factories, infrastructure decisions have shifted from peak chip specifications to cost per token: how many...

30/06/2026

Into the Omniverse: Three Workflows for Improving Vision AI Agent Accuracy With Synthetic Data and Fine-Tuning

Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...

30/06/2026

June 29, 2026

Scripps Research scientists demonstrate a faster, cheaper route to making critical drugs using common table sugar New method illustrates how to build a tough ch...

29/06/2026

Op-Ed: Why the 2026 World Cup Is Redefining the Economics of Live Sports Production

By Andy Rayner, CTO, Appear The 2026 FIFA World Cup is the largest football tou...

29/06/2026

Study: Esports Plays Major Role in Gen Z Media Habits, Purchasing Behavior

A new multi-country study from ESL FACEIT Group, Hero Esports, and Niko Partners estimates that 400 million Gen Z consumers regularly engage with esports, under...

29/06/2026

ESPN Sets Multiplatform Plans for America 250 Celebration

ESPN will mark America's 250th anniversary with a series of content initiatives across its linear, digital, and streaming platforms, including a special edi...