Caceres, who was head of the Civic Council of Indigenous and People's Organizations, was gunned down in her hometown of La Esperanza on Thursday.

Mourners shouted "Justice, justice!" "Berta lives!" and "The struggle continues!" during the funeral on Saturday.

Caceres rose to prominence for leading the indigenous Lenca people in a struggle against a hydroelectric dam project that would have flooded large areas of native lands.

In 2015, she won the Goldman Environmental Prize, considered the world's top award for grassroots environmental activism.

The Italian newspaper La Stampa hailed Caceres as a "martyr of Laudato Si."

"She was a woman committed to fighting for the protection of the environment and indigenous people's territories and the common struggle," said Fr Ismael Moreno, director of Radio Progreso and the Jesuit-run Team for Reflection, Research and Communication.

"We're heartbroken," said Fr Moreno, who considered Caceres a close friend. "She was constantly under threat."

Police initially attributed Caceres' death to robbery, but later said she was shot four times, according to media reports.

Sources

CNS/NCR Online
Catholic Herald
Raw Story
Image: Catholic Herald

Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, told the House Judiciary Committee on June 25 that violence in their homelands is the root cause of so many children immigrating illegally.

Bishop Seitz said authorities must let religious groups and individuals minister to these children once they have arrived at the border patrol stations and shelters.

He said various requests to do so have been denied.

The bishop also called for efforts by Congress to address the root causes of such migrations.

He said simply deporting the minors "is akin to sending these children back into a burning building they just fled".

The United States Department of Homeland Security has reported that 52,000 illegal child migrants that have been apprehended at the border this fiscal year, up from 15,700 last year.

Three quarters of them are from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

Bishop Seitz said gangs in these three countries are increasingly targeting children, attempting to recruit them into their networks and threatening violence against the children and their families if they refuse.

He said migration should be "orderly, safe, controlled and consistent with the common good".

Bishop Seitz lamented the state of overcrowded detention facilities for the children, and emphasised the importance of due process and legal representation for migrant children.

In early June, leaked photos were published showing dozens of children crammed into bare rooms.

President Barack Obama spoke of an "urgent humanitarian situation".

There are around 5000 immigration cases pending for every qualified judge, so dealing with individual children's cases in the judicial system could take years.

Republican lawmakers and others believe the surge in child migration has come about because of the Obama administration's lax enforcement of immigration laws.

But Bishop Seitz said the relatively stagnant numbers of migrants from other Central American countries shows violence, not policy, is the primary factor in the surge.

Rumours have spread like wildfire in some Central American nations that US laws have been relaxed.

The Obama administration blames unscrupulous people-smugglers trying to drum up business for starting the rumours.

The White House has promised more help to Central American countries and to appoint more immigration judges.

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• The Economist
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: The Telegraph

Known as the ‘Red Bishop' because of his support of the Liberal Party which uses a red flag, Bishop Santos hopes that the Pope will allow him to run as a candidate of a progressive faction of the Liberal Party, whose last president, Manuel Zelaya, was deposed in a 2009 coup.

The Bishop has been a supporter of those opposed to the government since the coup. This has made him at odds with Tegucigalpa Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, who backed the coup.

However, not everyone supports his move.

"The decision of the bishop to get involved in politics after stepping down as bishop does damage to the church and damage to politics," said Jesuit Father Ismael Moreno, director of Radio Progreso, a station closely identified with the Honduran left.

"Politics here is historically closely linked to clericalism. So when a bishop or priest decides to participate in partisan politics, that doesn't help us move toward a political culture of citizenship," said Father Moreno.

"And it would damage the church because he's not a bishop of unity, rather, he has fostered confrontation. So it would divide Catholics even more than they're divided now, and not in the name of the struggle of the poor, but rather in the name of party politics. That would harm those in the church who are struggling to serve the community without being interested in achieving quotas of power. It would make a lot of the rest of us look like we're participating in social movements because we're interested in personal power," Father Moreno said.

Bishop Santos rejects the notion that church leaders should remain outside partisan politics.

"It's very convenient for the rich that the church remains outside of politics, because that way they can mistreat and steal from the poor without the church protesting. They're happy because no priest will complain. And if one does, they label him a communist," Bishop Santos said.

"Why do I get involved in politics? Because it is politics that has screwed the poor," the bishop said.

Full Article: National Catholic Reporter

Image: National Catholic Reporter