Mexican priests killed while defending sanctuary seeker

MEXICO CITY AFP June22, 2022 - Gunmen shot dead two Jesuit priests and a man seeking sanctuary at their church in northern Mexico, the government and the religious order said on Tuesday.   

The priests, Javier Campos Morales and Joaquin Cesar Mora Salazar, were killed Monday in the Cerocahui community in Chihuahua state “while trying to defend a man who was seeking refuge,” according to the Society of Jesuits.   

The man, who worked as a tour guide, was also killed.   

The three bodies were then placed in the back of a pickup truck by armed men, covered with plastic and taken away, according to Father Luis Gerardo Moro Madrid, head of the order in Mexico. Chihuahua is an important transit route for illegal drugs bound for the United States, and is therefore violently contested between rival trafficking gangs.