The documentary “Tragedy and Crucible of the Priesthood in Mexico”, which presents the research of the Catholic Multimedia Center (CCM) on the persecution and assassinations of priests, will premiere this April 1 in the Chamber of Deputies of the country.
The function is scheduled for 11:00 am (local time), in the South Auditorium, Building A, of the Legislative Palace of San Lazaro.
Only between 2012 and 2018 there were 26 murders of priests in Mexico, the majority of these unpunished. One of the crimes that has most marked the country is that of the Archbishop of Guadalajara, Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, which took place almost 26 years ago without anyone being arrested.
The CCM’s research was first captured in a book that was delivered to Pope Francis by Marcela Szymanski, representative of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) before the European Union. At the end of 2018 the film work was completed.
In a dialogue with ACI Prensa, Fr. Omar Sotelo, director of the CCM, explained that the premiere in the Chamber of Deputies of Mexico will be held after a deputy Graciela Zavaleta Sánchez, of Morena, a recognized defender of human rights.
“We had the opportunity to present this documentary, which obviously has a lot to do with the issue of priests’ human rights, and it seemed an interesting project,” said Fr. Sotelo.
For Fr. Sotelo, the violence that Mexico is going through, which in 2018 alone amounted to more than 34,000 homicides, “affects the human rights of all Mexicans: journalists, businessmen, ordinary people, including priests.” .
For this, he stressed that the CCM documentary “is a strong call for attention to the pursuit of justice and respect for the human rights of each and every one of us who inhabit this country.”
However, he lamented that “in Mexico it is difficult to open the doors,” but hopes that after the premiere in the Chamber of Deputies “we will begin to open other instances.”
“We have been talking with some people to see the possibility of placing it in some festivals, in some presentations in cinemas or also in these streaming systems, there are so many and maybe someone could be interested.”
The Mexican priest stressed that the documentary “seeks to make known how the priesthood, as a social stabilizer, is attacked through organized crime to destabilize the parish communities, the zones and thereby enquer a culture of silence and terror.”
He noted that the dissemination of the documentary and research work of the CCM seeks to raise their voice, because “we do not deserve as Mexicans live a situation of violence as extreme as the one we are living.”
“We recognize that this is practically only a drop in the sea, but it is a voice that we launch and that, somehow, wants to speak for the journalists, for the people who have been kidnapped, murdered, among them these priests who have lost their life for violence, “he said.
Source: aciprensa
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