Two priests discovered dead in Mexican field - Why Mexico is the most dangerous country for clergymen

'We extend our pain and indignation at the violence exercised against them.'

Mexican priests Alejo Nabor Jiménez Juárez and José Alfredo Suárez de la Cruz were discovered murdered in a field on September 19.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The priests were kidnapped on September 18 from Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Poza Rica.

After their bodies were discovered in a field near Papantla, the Mexican Bishops Conference confirmed the mens' deaths and offered condolences and prayers to the Diocesse of Papantla, Mexico, where the priests served.

"We extend our pain and indignation at the violence exercized against them," the bishops' conference stated, according to CNA.

They continued, saying: "In these moment of pain, impotence and tragedy provoked by violence, we raise our prayers to the heavens for the eternal rest of these our brothers, and implore the Lord for the conversion of their aggressors.

"From the authorities we await an investigation to clear up what happened and the enforcement of justice against those responsible.

"We pray to the Lord that he blesses our beloved homeland, and we ask for the intercession of Blessed Mary of Guadalupe, Queen of Peace, that united we search for integrity and the progress of our people."

The senseless murders are two of several occurring in Mexico over the past 25 years.

According to a report by the Mexican Catholic Multimedia Center, 38 priests were reported dead or vanished without a trace in the past quarter century.

There was a spike in aggression toward priests in 2006, when then-president Felipe Calderón turned to military aid in the fight against organized crime cartels.

During his presidential term, twelve priests were killed, 77,000 others were killed and 25,000 were reported missing.

The violence has yet to wane as Calderón's successor, Enrique Peńa Nieto, saw twelve priests killed or reported "disappeared" within his first three years in office.

It is understandable for the military and cartels to face-off in violent conflict but why are priests being attacked?

According to the Catholic Herald, constitutional reforms created to help the Church have been steadily unraveling.

Religious and moral politics have reached a head, leading to the slaughter, kidnapping and "vanishing" of servants of God.

According to Andrew Chesnut, a professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, priests are at risk due to contemporary Mexican politics: The constitutional reform of 1992 spearheaded by president Carlos Salinas de Gortari was a watershed moment in Church-state relations since the Mexican Revolution.

"With a stroke of the presidential pen, much of the anti-clericalism of the previous 75 years was reversed. The successive National Action Party (Pan) administrations of 2000-12 were most beneficial to the Church. As a right-of-centre party, Pan has enjoyed close relations with the Mexican episcopacy since its inception."

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