Drug War Also Hitting Churches In Juarez, Rest Of Mexico

As one of the highest officials in the Mexican Catholic Church, Monsignor Victor Rene Rodriguez has been receiving the alarming reports from all over the nation. His priests are telling him they are being constantly threatened, extorted and abused by drug traffickers, according to a CNN report.

“Sometimes threats don’t materialize,” Rodriguez said. “But in cases where priests haven’t obeyed the drug traffickers’ demands, churches have been damaged, priests attacked, and, in a few cases, even killed.”

Rodriguez points to states like Chihuahua, the most violent in Mexico. Of the 28,000 drug-related deaths in the last four years, 40 percent have happened in this border state. In Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, more than 100 pastors have reported threats, and extortion has become all too common.

About 90 percent of Mexico’s total population of 110 million people describe themselves as Catholic. In fact, Mexico has the second largest population of Catholics in the world. But the threats are affecting evangelical churches as well.

The Rev. Jose Raul Murillo, head pastor at the Faith in Jesus Christ Apostolic Church in Juarez, says pastors are falsely accused of siding with certain gangs.

Read the full CNN article here