Mexican Catholics Protest After Priest Is Reportedly Kidnapped From Seminary MEXICO CITY (AP) — Dozens of Roman Catholic priests and hundreds of parishioners marched through the southern Mexico city of Ciudad Altamirano on Wednesday to demand the release of a kidnapped priest and protest a series of kidnappings, killings and robberies of priests.
The marchers were led by Bishop Maximino Martinez and about 30 white-robed priests. They called for the release of the Rev. Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta, who apparently was kidnapped from a local seminary on Monday. "Enough Already!" and "Return Father Gregorio!" read banners carried by the marchers, who sang hymns as they marched to the city's cathedral.
Lopez Gorostieta's pickup truck was found abandoned, and the church has filed a crime report with police, but the motive remains unclear.
"We haven't received any demand for ransom," said Martinez, who noted his diocese "has suffered a lot" from the drug cartel violence that has made the hotlands region of southern Guerrero state one of the most dangerous in all of Mexico.
At least two priests have been killed in Guerrero state this year and several others have been abducted, robbed or wounded in robbery attempts.
In September, the battered body of the Rev. Ascension Acuna Osorio was found floating in the Balsas river near his parish of San Miguel Totolapan, near Ciudad Altamirano. Guerrero state prosecutors said the priest's body had head wounds, but it was unclear whether they were caused by the body being dragged by the current, or whether he had been killed before being dumped in the river. Prosecutors have offered the diocese no further explanation of his death.
Residents of San Miguel Totolapan told reporters that Acuna Osorio was well-liked in the town, but they were afraid to speak any further about him. The town is an area dominated by the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel, which has been implicated in the mass killing of 43 students in September in the nearby city of Iguala.
The area is so dangerous that Bishop Martinez said one priest had been briefly kidnapped in the mountains above San Miguel Totolapan by cartel gunmen who complained the priest had been speaking in favor of "La Familia" — the name of a rival drug cartel.
The priest had to quickly explain he had been preaching in favor of family values, not the rival cartel.
Earlier this year, another priest was injured when gunmen sprayed his truck with bullets on a local road; the priest's driver was killed in that attack.
The Rev. Oscar Prudenciano, a parish priest in the city of Iguala, said he survived a similar attack on a highway in May 2013, when he was headed to a baptism. Cartel gunmen pulled him over, apparently because they wanted to steal his truck. They dragged him off and were apparently going to kill him; the priest was only saved because a rival group of gunmen showed up and a gunfight broke out, allowing Prudenciano time to escape. "I thought they were going to kill me," he said. "I ran for my life."
While everyone is vulnerable to robberies on the region's roads, some attacks appear more specifically directed at the church, especially priests who refuse to perform quickie marriages or baptisms for drug gang members.
"At times, if they ask for a baptism and you don't do it, they start to threaten you," Martinez said. "They want a marriage, or a blessing" for a car or a home, he said, and won't take 'no' for an answer.
Some deaths remain a mystery. Ugandan priest Rev. John Ssenyondo, 55, had been kidnapped earlier this year after saying Mass, when a group of people in an SUV intercepted his car.
His body was later identified as one of 13 found in a clandestine grave discovered Nov. 2 in the town of Ocotitlan.
Church officials believe some attacks, in fact, may be intended to discourage priests from protesting the rampant violence.
Monsignor Ramon Castro, the bishop of the diocese of Cuernavaca, just to the north of Guerrero, said that after the church organized a march against violence in which thousands took part in March, armed men kidnapped workers from three separate parishes in nearly simultaneous attacks the next day. They were released hours later.
"We think that was a kind of warning, to tell us to keep quiet," Bishop Castro said.
The marchers were led by Bishop Maximino Martinez and about 30 white-robed priests. They called for the release of the Rev. Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta, who apparently was kidnapped from a local seminary on Monday. "Enough Already!" and "Return Father Gregorio!" read banners carried by the marchers, who sang hymns as they marched to the city's cathedral.
Lopez Gorostieta's pickup truck was found abandoned, and the church has filed a crime report with police, but the motive remains unclear.
"We haven't received any demand for ransom," said Martinez, who noted his diocese "has suffered a lot" from the drug cartel violence that has made the hotlands region of southern Guerrero state one of the most dangerous in all of Mexico.
At least two priests have been killed in Guerrero state this year and several others have been abducted, robbed or wounded in robbery attempts.
In September, the battered body of the Rev. Ascension Acuna Osorio was found floating in the Balsas river near his parish of San Miguel Totolapan, near Ciudad Altamirano. Guerrero state prosecutors said the priest's body had head wounds, but it was unclear whether they were caused by the body being dragged by the current, or whether he had been killed before being dumped in the river. Prosecutors have offered the diocese no further explanation of his death.
Residents of San Miguel Totolapan told reporters that Acuna Osorio was well-liked in the town, but they were afraid to speak any further about him. The town is an area dominated by the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel, which has been implicated in the mass killing of 43 students in September in the nearby city of Iguala.
The area is so dangerous that Bishop Martinez said one priest had been briefly kidnapped in the mountains above San Miguel Totolapan by cartel gunmen who complained the priest had been speaking in favor of "La Familia" — the name of a rival drug cartel.
The priest had to quickly explain he had been preaching in favor of family values, not the rival cartel.
Earlier this year, another priest was injured when gunmen sprayed his truck with bullets on a local road; the priest's driver was killed in that attack.
The Rev. Oscar Prudenciano, a parish priest in the city of Iguala, said he survived a similar attack on a highway in May 2013, when he was headed to a baptism. Cartel gunmen pulled him over, apparently because they wanted to steal his truck. They dragged him off and were apparently going to kill him; the priest was only saved because a rival group of gunmen showed up and a gunfight broke out, allowing Prudenciano time to escape. "I thought they were going to kill me," he said. "I ran for my life."
While everyone is vulnerable to robberies on the region's roads, some attacks appear more specifically directed at the church, especially priests who refuse to perform quickie marriages or baptisms for drug gang members.
"At times, if they ask for a baptism and you don't do it, they start to threaten you," Martinez said. "They want a marriage, or a blessing" for a car or a home, he said, and won't take 'no' for an answer.
Some deaths remain a mystery. Ugandan priest Rev. John Ssenyondo, 55, had been kidnapped earlier this year after saying Mass, when a group of people in an SUV intercepted his car.
His body was later identified as one of 13 found in a clandestine grave discovered Nov. 2 in the town of Ocotitlan.
Church officials believe some attacks, in fact, may be intended to discourage priests from protesting the rampant violence.
Monsignor Ramon Castro, the bishop of the diocese of Cuernavaca, just to the north of Guerrero, said that after the church organized a march against violence in which thousands took part in March, armed men kidnapped workers from three separate parishes in nearly simultaneous attacks the next day. They were released hours later.
"We think that was a kind of warning, to tell us to keep quiet," Bishop Castro said.
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