Third priest murdered in Colombia

Colombian schoolgirls [Annie Bungeroth]

Another priest killed as it is believed revolutionary groups target those trying to persuade the young not to fight

A third priest has been murdered in war-torn Colombia in less than a week in a series of attacks for which CAFOD says there can be "no excuses".

Fr Jesús Adrián Sánchez Coy was forced out of his religion class on August 18 and shot at point blank range in front of students on the college football pitch.

The murder took place at the Camacho Angarita college in El Limón, a district of El Chaparral, in Tolima department, south of Bogotá, where Fr Sánchez was parish priest.

It is believed the attack was committed by guerrillas of the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), and the presumed motive is the priest’s personal campaign to persuade young people not to join the guerrillas.

Praying for forgiveness

The president of the Colombian bishops’ conference, Archbishop Luis Augusto Castro, described the murder as a "criminal and sacrilegious act" and prayed for "the forgiveness and conversion of those responsible".

Fr Sánchez’ murder came three days’ after Frs Vicente Rozo Bayona and Ramón Emilio Mora were murdered in the north-eastern diocese of Ocaña.

While this murder was also assumed to be the work of the FARC, in a surprise twist on August 19 Colombia’s second largest guerrilla group, the ELN (National Liberation Army), issued an admission of responsibility, and apologised, attributing the killing to an "intelligence error".

CAFOD expresses its condolences to the Colombian church and the family of Fr Sánchez and condemns this further act of barbarism.

Francis McDonagh, CAFOD Latin America programme officer, says: "No excuses can justify taking human life so lightly.

"The murder of Fr Sánchez shows that the church is suffering with the rest of Colombian society from the intolerance that will murder a person for arguing for a point of view.

"The murder of three priests in one week illustrates the heavy price the Colombian Church is paying for its commitment to its people."

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