The body of a Catholic priest who ran a migrant shelter was found dead along with another man near the border on May 17.
José Guadalupe Rivas Saldaña, 57, served at the San Judas Tadeo church in Tecate, Baja California for more than twenty years before his mysterious death.
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He ran Casa del Migrante, a migrant shelter in Tecate, which is south of the Mexican border, just 40 miles southeast of downtown San Diego.
The priest was last seen on May 15 and was reported missing. The state attorney general had launched an investigation.
Rivas Saldaña died of head injuries, according to local reports.
The priest may also have been tortured, reported Infovaticana, a Vatican-based news organization in Rome.
The leader of the Archdiocese of Tijuana, Archbishop Francisco Moreno Barrón, prayed during a church service following the news of Rivas Saldaña’s death.
Moreno Barrón said that the priest had “returned to the Father’s house.” He subsequently demanded in speaking to members of the media that the Baja California Attorney General’s Office find who was responsible for the murder.
“Let us pray to our Heavenly Father to have mercy on him and that he may soon enjoy the Heavenly Homeland. Give him, Lord, eternal rest and shine for him perpetual light. He rests in peace,” said Moreno Barrón.
So far, no suspects have been identified and details about the other man found at the scene are still unknown.
A documentary produced by Vatican News found that at least 47 pastoral workers within the Catholic Church have been killed in Mexico since 2005.
The country is listed as one of the most dangerous in the world for the clergy.
The body of another priest in the archdiocese of Tijuana was found in October 2018. Father Ímar Arturo Orta was found in an abandoned car with multiple gunshot wounds.
Rivas Saldaña was the fourth of 10 siblings. He was ordained on October 29, 1994 by Bishop Luis Morales Reyes de Torreón, according to the Catholic News Agency.
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