A priest stabbed in the neck while he was saying Mass at Mexico City’s cathedral is in a critical condition.
The attacker tried to slit Father Miguel Angel Machorro’s throat, a witness said.
The suspect, who identified himself as John Rock Schild, told authorities that he is an American artist and invoked his right to remain silent,” the District Attourney’s office said.
Nobody knows what Schild’s motive was.
Armando Martínez, a lawyer for the Mexican Archdiocese said they needed more information to draw any conclusions.
“We cannot talk about terrorism, we cannot talk about motives because we obviously have no significant facts,” he said.
A report from Mexico’s Catholic Multimedia Center says Mexico remained the most dangerous country in the world for priests in 2016 for the eighth year in a row.
The report goes on to say there has been an “alarming” increase in attacks on priests since President Enrique Peña Nieto entered office in 2012.
Violence against Catholics in Mexico has escalated.
At least 15 priests were murdered over the past few years in regions “blighted by violence and drug trafficking”.
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