In the midst of an uptick at violence and robbery in churches in Mexico City on Monday, a priest and several seminarians were held captive inside a Catholic church.
On August 29, at about 8 a.m., thieves broke into the Saints of America parish on the south side of Mexico City and bound the parish priest, Father Jóse Luis Pérez, and several seminarians who were entering the church at the time.
According to Pérez in a statement to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister news organisation of CNA, the thieves profited from the fact that “the parish opens up for Mass” at that time.
He said, “They took everything we had here. Computers and mobile phones belonging to the seminarians, who attend courses online, were taken.
Along with the money from the Catholic church’s weekly collections and metal contribution boxes, the bandits also stole the priest’s mobile phone.
Less than two miles from Saints of America church, St. Lawrence Deacon and Martyr parish was similarly plundered a few days earlier.
Father Julio Saucedo, the parish’s priest, told ACI Prensa that on August 20, thugs broke through one of the ancient church’s walls to produce a sizable hole.
Once inside the church, they smashed several windows and stole money from two donation boxes that were inside.
St. Mary of the Apostles parish, which was stolen on the night of August 26–27, is a short distance from both churches.
Pérez and Saucedo both claimed to have complained to the authorities.
Saucedo said that, particularly at night, the neighbourhood police provided a “better presence.”