Petition in Mexico demands religious freedom, protection of priests and churches

The Mexican platform Actívate (Get Active) delivered 10,400 signatures to the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) demanding that a protocol be drawn up to guarantee religious freedom and to prevent and punish attacks against Catholic priests, laypeople, and churches.

The campaign asks the CNDH that the protocol specify “how to take action against violent acts against churches or their ministers of worship.”

In addition, the petition demands that the authorities be trained “on the protection of this human right” and that the protocol should detail “the measures that will be taken in the places or persons where human rights were violated.”

Most recently, Augustinian priest Javier Garcia Villafana was shot to death in his car on May 22. The day before, a knife-wielding 80-year-old man tried to kill the archbishop of Durango, Faustino Armendáriz, inside the cathedral sacristy after Mass was over. In addition, various churches have been the target of robberies, desecration, and attacks in different parts of the country.