Peruvian priest threatened with letters containing bullets

Lurin, Peru, Aug 24, 2021 / 16:42 pm (CNA).

Fr. Omar Sánchez Portillo, secretary general of Cáritas Lurín, stated Monday that he has been the victim of death threats, several cyberattacks on his social media, and the theft of a debit card.

“They sent me a bullet again. It’s the third one since Monday, May 24. It’s the first time that I have posted on this subject,” Fr. Sánchez wrote Aug. 23 on his Facebook page.

“What person or persons are the authors? I have no idea. I only pray to God for them and their souls, for peace in their hearts. I have always considered that I have no enemies and I still think that I don’t have them. Afraid? No. Do they want to silence me? Never. Will I keep talking? Always. #TerrorismoNuncaMas,” he said.

Speaking Aug. 23 to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, Fr. Sánchez said that the letters came with just the bullets inside and with his name written on the outside of the envelope. He said that the last envelope was found the night of Aug. 22 in an area where there are no security cameras.

The priest, who is also director of the Association of the Beatitudes, had already made known on May 25 the death threats he received for saying at Mass that communism is the enemy of the Church. The priest criticized communism two weeks before the June 6 presidential run-off election in Peru, which was won by Pedro Castillo of Free Peru, a socialist party.

Fr. Sánchez told ACI Prensa, “I spoke about communism and will continue to speak about it in every homily when I have the opportunity. I’ll address the issue again when the Gospel (for the day) allows me to address it…No one has claimed responsibility (for the threats),”

Fr. Sánchez  also reported on Facebook that on the weekend of Aug. 21-22, coincidentally, he was “the victim of a virtual attack trying to hack my Facebook accounts and the Association’s Instagram,” as well as from a TikTok account where he only has one post.

“Thank God they couldn’t do anything, the security alerts went off and I was able to stop all of that immediately. Except for a theft of a debit card where, strangely, they managed to take out more than the daily amount allowed by the bank,” he said.

The priest expressed his faith that “God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Lawrence, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Saint Josemaría Escrivá, Saint Rafael Arnaiz Barón and Saint Alberto Hurtado will continue to take care of me.”

“I am counting on their prayers,” he said.