Another priest has been found murdered in a violent southern Mexican state, where Catholic bishops have brokered truces between warring drug cartels and clergy have been killed with impunity. Source: Catholic Review.
The body of Fr Bertoldo Pantaleón Estrada was discovered on Monday in the municipality of Mezcal in Guerrero state, some 240 kilometres south of Mexico City, according to the Diocese of Chilpancingo-Chilapa.
Fr Pantaleón disappeared two days earlier, the diocese said. Mexican Milenio television reported Fr Pantaleón was shot twice in the neck.
Federal public security secretary Omar García Harfuch said on Tuesday that Fr Pataleón’s driver was a suspect in the priest’s murder
“Everything indicates that he died in his truck. He was killed in his truck. He was about to head out to say Mass. And everything indicates that it was his own driver,” Mr García Harfuch told reporters.
“At this time, we have no indication that the Father was involved in anything wrong.”
Fr Pantaleón was pastor of San Cristóbal Parish in Mezcala, a region rife with drug cartel activity in what was once considered Mexico’s heroin-producing heartland.
“We note with sadness and pain that acts of violence have once again plunged our Catholic community into mourning. Therefore, we demand that the competent state and federal authorities conduct a prompt, thorough, and transparent investigation that will clarify this crime and ensure just punishment for those responsible,” the Mexican bishops’ conference said in a statement on Monday.
“As pastors of the People of God, we raise our voices to remind everyone that no form of violence can have a place in a society that honours life and seeks goodness, truth, and peace for all its citizens.”
The murder of Fr Pantaleón has reinforced Mexico’s reputation as the most murderous country in the world for Catholic clergy. At least 53 priests have been killed in Mexico since 2006, and 10 priests between 2019 and 2024, according to the Catholic Multimedia Centre, while crimes such as extortion committed against clergy and churches remain rife.
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Mexican priest murdered in cartel-ravaged Guerrero state (By David Agren, OSV News via Catholic Review)
