Mexican priests could avoid being murdered by wearing cassocks

Monday, August 8th, 2022

A bishop has suggested that Catholic priests in the Mexican state of Guerrero could avoid being victims of violence by wearing religious dress.

Bishop Jesús González Hernández of Chilpancingo-Chilapa diocese explained that the use of Roman collars or cassocks could identify priests, so they would not be targeted in error.

A recent report by the Catholic Multimedia Centre shows that violence in Mexico has seen one cardinal and 57 priests murdered between 1990 and 2022.

González Hernández was speaking to the press following an armed attack on priest Felipe Velez Jimenez. The bishop reported that Fr Vélez Jiménez was shot in the right cheekbone when he was leaving Chilapa at noon on Thursday.

Vélez Jiménez was transferred to a hospital in Cuernavaca, Morelos, where he is awaiting surgery.

When asked if he was going to prohibit priests from visiting some areas of his diocese, the bishop replied: “No, but we do have to wear our (religious) clothing because they can confuse us with someone else.”

“You have to be identified,” he said.

“I’m going to say that the priests should wear external identification. So, yes, I would have to oblige us to wear the Roman collar or a religious sign,” he added.

The bishop also said that the vehicles used by priests must be marked as such.

“If they attack us, they should attack us because we’re already wearing it (religious clothing), but they shouldn’t confuse us by mistake,” the bishop said.

Although the cassock and the Roman collar are worn throughout the world, many Mexican priests aren’t seen wearing them.

Father José de Jesús Aguilar, deputy director of Radio and Television for the Archdiocese of Mexico, explained that there is a historical reason for their daily clothing.

The Catholic Church was severely persecuted in the 1920s, the years when the Cristero War took place in which thousands of Catholics died, many of them martyred.

In 1926, President Plutarco Elías Calles promulgated the so-called Calles Law. The law made it a crime, among other things related to faith, for a priest to wear a cassock out in public or for religion to be taught in schools.

Aguilar told ACI Prensa the ban was eliminated only in 1992 when relations between the Church and the state were restored.

Until then, he noted, “many priests had to dress in an ordinary or normal way,” and couldn’t wear “the cassock, the Roman collar, or in some cases the religious habit.”

“Now you can openly wear the cassock, the Roman collar or any religious habit in public places,” Aguilar explained.