Mexico's Jesuits decry murder of two priests inside a church

Mexico's Catholic Jesuit community denounced the murder of two of its priests inside a church and demanded protection for other community members in a violent stretch of northern Mexico, the religious order said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mexico's Catholic Jesuit community denounced the murder of two of its priests inside a church and demanded protection for other community members in a violent stretch of northern Mexico, the religious order said in a statement on Tuesday. While priests are rarely the victims of gangland violence in Mexico, such activity is common in parts of the country, especially near the northern border with the United States where cartels fight over lucrative smuggling routes.

"In the midst of so much death and crime in the country, we publicly condemn this tragedy and demand a prompt investigation and safety for the community and all priests in the country," the group said in a statement. The Chihuahua state prosecutor's office said in a statement that it received a report on Monday that three people were killed in the town of Cerocahui after a man took refuge in a church to protect himself from an attack.

"They entered the church, chased a person and murdered him. Apparently the priests came out and they were also killed," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters on Tuesday during his regular morning news conference, after he was asked about the killings. Lopez Obrador added that authorities are investigating the crime.