The young people, including minors, were at a parish festival when a cartel group opened fire on them.
By Catholics for Catholics
In an unusual move, the Mexican Bishop’s Conference strongly condemned the killing of seven young people who were at a parish festival, calling on authorities to take action against a rising tide of violence against churches and Catholics.
The May 19 attack was the second mass murder of Catholic youths in Mexico in a spate of two months. Both crimes have been unresolved, according to Mexican newspapers.
In addition, according to OSV News, the Bishops also were outraged over the killing of two Mexican officials who belonged to the Mexico City government. Both were gunned down in a vehicle after they stopped outside a metro station on a busy thoroughfare in the national capital May 20.
Gunmen, allegedly from a cartel, arrived in trucks to Bartolo de Berrios, a city located in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, and “brazenly opened fire on the people they found there,” according to a statement from the Archdiocese of León, signed by Archbishop Jaime Calderón Calderón.
The Guanajuato state prosecutor’s office confirmed the number of deaths but offered no additional details, The Associated Press reported.
“We are outraged, shocked and we condemn this act,” Archbishop Calderón continued. “I urge our authorities to find those responsible and seek justice so these incidents never happen again in our society. Uncovering the truth and applying justice is a duty to bring comfort to the families of the victims.”
In addition, the bishop’s conference said in a May 20 statement, “As pastors of the People of God, we cannot remain indifferent to the spiral of violence that is devastating so many communities in our country. … We cannot get used to living with violent death, nor allow impunity to become the norm.”
The May 19th massacre was the second such attack on young people in Guanajuato in barely two months. Eight young people were gunned down in March outside a parish after a celebration of Mass in Salamanca, a municipality in the neighboring Diocese of Irapuato.
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