Two priests murdered in Mexico on Monday are believed to have been killed by a local drugs dealer, one of their confrères has told The Tablet.
Fr Javier Campos SJ and Fr Joaquín Mora SJ were shot dead in their church in Cerocahui, Tarahumara, in the northern state of Chihúaha. They were attempting to protect Pedro Palma, a tour guide who had sought refuge there from the gunman and was also killed.
Witnesses said that their bodies were loaded onto a pickup truck and driven away, despite the pleas of a third Jesuit who alleged that the killer was a local drugs dealer.
Speaking to The Tablet, Luis Perez Jimenez SJ said that the priests were “grandparents of the region”, who had worked at the Jesuit mission in Cerocahui for decades and were “devoted to the sacraments”. The mission is the oldest in Mexico, established in the seventeenth century, and runs a human rights centre in an area dominated by organised crime.
“The Church there has learned how to deal with organised crime,” said Fr Jiminez, explaining that many gangs respect the religious orders which run hospitals and schools – generally the region’s only functioning social infrastructure. “Religious orders are the only strong institutions, they are doing what the state should do in that area.
“This case shows what is happening in the whole territory,” he continued, referring to more than 100,000 persons “disappeared” in Mexico in recent decades and a further “forensic crisis” of 52,000 bodies found but unidentified. “The disappearance of my brothers has restarted discussion of the problem.”
Pope Francis expressed his shock at the murders, lamenting “so many killings in Mexico” at the end of his general audience in St Peter’s Square this week, while the Jesuit provincial, Fr Luis Gerardo Moro Madrid SJ, emphasised that they occurred “in the context of the violence this country is experiencing”.
The Mexican authorities have offered a reward of five million pesos (around £200,000) for information about the killer. The governor of Chihúaha announced that the bodies of Fr Campos, Fr Mora and Mr Palma were found on Thursday.
“It took just two days to find the bodies – this shows the state can do it,” said Fr Jiminez, who is currently studying for a doctorate in London on social responses to Mexico’s disappearances. “Four other people disappeared on that same day. We need that same effort for all of them to stop this situation. The blood of my brothers is going to bear fruit.”
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