Francisco Díaz Dead: Mexican Priest Killed In Guanajuato, 10th Cleric Murdered In Peña Nieto's Mexico

Father Francisco Javier Gutiérrez Díaz, 60, was murdered on Monday, just a few miles from his parish near Salvatierra in Guanajuato, Mexico. His body was found on Tuesday afternoon, abandoned on a dirt road, with a bullet wound in the right side of his head. His wallet, money, and phone were reportedly stolen, causing officials to suspect robbery as the main motive. He reportedly was carrying a large sum of cash with which he intended to by a small property in the peripheral village of Ojo Agua de Ballesteros. No cartel messages were reported to be left with his body.

“I can’t find the words to express my pain at the death of my friend and my brother, who in his life cut down evil and hate. It’s a cruel injury that wounds the soul of his family, his friends and a community that prized and loved the priest [....] He’s one more victim of the violence that lives in our country. We pray that his soul rests in peace,” said Father Prisciliano Hernández, a friend quoted by El Observador.

Father Díaz is least the tenth priest to be murdered in Mexico in the past two years. Mexico is now most dangerous place for priests in Latin America according to Altea, a religious platform. Last year, three priests were murdered in the nearby state of Guerrero. Some of those deaths are suspected to be linked to cartel activity, which followed pastoral condemnations of narco gang violence. Díaz, originally of Jalisco, was mourned by his friends, parishioners, and peers from his fraternal order, the Confraternidad de los Operarios del Reino de Cristo.

“United in prayer, we are indignant at the death of Father Francisco Javier Gutiérrez Díaz, of Capuchinas in Salvatierra Guanajuato. When will this end? Enough with so much blood spilled!” said the office of the Archbishop of Morelia, in a statement.