Church demands investigation as another priest murdered in Mexico
Fr Román was found dead, by the side of the road, with bullet wounds. The region of Huejutla is riddled with criminal organizations involved in all manners of trafficking, including stolen fuel.
A priest was shot dead in a remote region in Mexico, on Tuesday 15 September.
Father Román de la Cruz was responsible for a small community in a region where criminal groups operate and fight over fuel trafficking routes. He had been parish priest of the Santa Cruz community in Huejutla since 2024, and coordinated the diocesan Commission for Prophetic Pastoral Care.
His body was found abandoned by the side of a road. According to the press, a threatening note was found next to the priest’s body, although the actual content of the note has not been made public.
In a statement from the Mexican bishops’ conference, sent to international foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the bishops express their “indignation and sadness” over the crime and demand that the authorities carry out an “exhaustive investigation” to clarify yet another episode of extreme violence against the Church the North-American country.
According to the Mexican Catholic Multimedia Centre, the Attorney General’s Office has reportedly already begun an investigation into the case.
In another statement, issued by the Diocese of Huejutla and also sent to ACN, Bishop José Acosta Beltrán calls attention to “the alarming situation of violence experienced” in Mexico, asking that “justice be done and that neither this case nor the other crimes” that have affected the country “go unpunished.”
Several regions of Mexico have been experiencing extreme levels of violence over the past years, and the Church has not been spared attacks and murders. Several priests have been killed by criminal organizations and drug cartels.
The region where Fr Román lived is characterised by the existence of rival criminal organizations disputing trafficking routes.
Mexico in the Religious Freedom Report
The latest ACN Foundation report on freedom of religion in the world, published in October last year, has an important section on Mexico, although what happens in this country must be viewed at a regional level, involving other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“In 2023 and 2024 at least 13 religious leaders were murdered in Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras,” the report reads. “A further 16 missionaries and laypeople were murdered in pastoral settings in Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras and Mexico. To these must be added the deaths of another nine lay people in Mexico in early 2025,” the document adds.
ACN’s Religious Freedom in the World Report highlights the fact that, although there is no evidence that “all these crimes were motivated by hatred of the faith”, they nonetheless reflect “insecurity surrounding ministry in high-conflict and volatile areas”. Because of this, it adds, “Religious leaders occupy a significant place in their communities, and their influence makes them targets for attacks and intimidation. The same applies to those who dare to criticise authoritarian regimes. They are seen as a threat and can be subject to reprisals”.
In Mexico there have also been recorded cases of “extortion of Churches and religious leaders” under the pretext of “payments for alleged ‘protection’ against rival criminal organizations”.
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