(Vatican Radio) The body of a priest abducted in Mexico a week ago has been found, just hours after Pope Francis appealed for an end to drug-related violence in the country at his Sunday Angelus address. He'd been shot dead at point blank range.Listen to James Blears' report: The Archdiocese of Morelia announced that Father Jose Lopez Guillen's body was found near to the town of Puruandiro, in the western Mexican State of Michocan.Fr. Lopez had been robbed and abducted from his home at the parish house in Janamuati. His car was found overturned on a nearby road.On the very day this happened, the bodies of two priests were found in the eastern State of Vera Cruz. They too had been shot dead, but the two incidents are not thought to be linked.The Catholic Multi Media Center states that 15 priests have been murdered in Mexico in less than four years. Although these latest killings occurred in the east and the west of Mexico, both areas where they happ...
The Archdiocese of Morelia announced that Father Jose Lopez Guillen's body was found near to the town of Puruandiro, in the western Mexican State of Michocan.
Fr. Lopez had been robbed and abducted from his home at the parish house in Janamuati. His car was found overturned on a nearby road.
On the very day this happened, the bodies of two priests were found in the eastern State of Vera Cruz. They too had been shot dead, but the two incidents are not thought to be linked.
The Catholic Multi Media Center states that 15 priests have been murdered in Mexico in less than four years.
Although these latest killings occurred in the east and the west of Mexico, both areas where they happened are plagued by drug cartel activity, which terrorizes communities and often goes unpunished.
Mexico's ongoing nine year Drug War has claimed more than 150,000 lives, with thousands of people missing.
The Augustine Institute's new facilities in Florissant, Missouri. / Credit: Boeing Company and Augustine InstituteCNA Staff, Apr 23, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).The Augustine Institute, a Catholic educational and evangelization apostolate based in Denver for nearly two decades, announced on Tuesday that it will be moving its operations to a new campus in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The institute, founded in 2005 as a Catholic graduate theology school, currently has an enrollment of 550 students. It says on its website that it exists to serve "the formation of Catholics for the new evangelization" by "equip[ping] Catholics intellectually, spiritually, and pastorally to renew the Church and transform the world for Christ."The organization announced on Tuesday that it had purchased the former Boeing Leadership Center in Florissant, Missouri, just outside of downtown St. Louis. The school will "begin transitioning its operations over the next few years," it said in ...
Over a year after the earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey in February 2023, restoration of Aleppo's Church of St. George has been completed. / Credit: Abdul Kareem DanielAleppo, Syria, Apr 23, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).This year's feast of St. George was a particularly joyful one in the Syrian city of Aleppo, especially for the Melkite Greek Catholic community. The church is reopening its doors after undergoing restoration due to damage from a February 2023 earthquake. Additionally, Archbishop George Masri of the Melkite Archdiocese of Aleppo and its environs will celebrate his golden jubilee.The celebrations took place during the visit of Patriarch Joseph Absi, the current patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, who presided over the Divine Liturgy in the restored church on the evening of April 23. The evening before, there was a procession along Holy Bible Street followed by vespers.Restoration of the Church of St. George in Aleppo after the February 2023 earthquake...
Archbishop Luis Argüello and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. / Credit: Archdiocese of Valladolid; La MoncloaACI Prensa Staff, Apr 23, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).The Spanish government approved today in the Council of Ministers a plan to implement recommendations made in a report on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. While recognizing some good points in the plan, the Spanish Bishops' Conference (known by its Spanish acronym CEE) issued a statement strongly objecting to what it called unfair treatment and discrimination against the Church by the government.Before giving details of the government's plan, the minister of the Presidency, Justice, and Relations with the Legislature, Félix Bolaños, extrapolating data from a survey commissioned by the People's Ombudsman, estimated that in Spain there are about 440,000 adults who were victims of sexual abuse as minors, representing 1.13% of the adult population in Spain."Around half of these abuses would have been committed...