Lima, Peru, May 23, 2022 / 14:53 pm (CNA).
A three-year-old boy was killed by gang members who opened fire inside a church in Fresnillo in the Mexican state of Zacatecas.
Their intended target was a young man they were pursuing who fled into the church.
The boy was attending Mass with his mother and was killed in the hail of bullets unleashed by the gunmen.
“We are saddened and alarmed by the killing of a three-year-old boy inside the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, where armed men entered following a man whom they wounded. Our condolences to the family of this little boy,” the Mexican Bishops’ Conference said in a May 20 statement.
The local press reported that two armed men entered the church and let loose a burst of fire at a young man they were chasing, who died later from his wounds in a hospital May 20.
The three-year-old boy named Caleb died instantly when struck by the bullets.
In their statement, the Mexican bishops said that “this shows that all limits of violence and human respect are being exceeded.”
“We once again call on everyone to lay down their arms and put an end to all forms of violence, because all of us can be builders of peace. No one has the right to attack the life of his brother and there is nothing that justifies such violence,” the bishops stressed.
In their message, the prelates also remembered Fr. José Guadalupe Rivas, who was beaten to death May 17.
“We send our most heartfelt condolences to the family of Father José Guadalupe and to the family of the other murdered brother, as well as to the Archbishop of Tijuana, Don Francisco Moreno Barrón, and to his entire Church,” they said.
The bishops called on the faithful to continue “praying for our authorities so that they find the best paths for pacification and security that we all need and desire.”
“Let us pray for the criminals so they repent and change their lives. Let us pray for everyone so that we become peace builders.” the bishops concluded.
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