Members of the Mexican Bishops Conference on Tuesday asked priests in their country "to assume an attitude of caution" when discussing the drug trade, amid revelations that several priests have been threatened. The bishop of Matamoros - Faustino Armendáriz - said in a press conference at the start of the organization's annual meeting that while the Catholic Church maintains its opposition to drug trafficking, his fellows should engage in talking about the issue only with caution and prudence.
"Prevention - that is what they are asked to preach," the bishop told Mexico's El Universal newspaper in Spanish.
Between 200 and 250 priests in at least 10 Mexican states have received threats from drug traffickers in recent years, Father Manuel Corral, spokesman for the Mexican bishop's conference, said.
The issue gained new attention Friday, as the Archbishop of Durango - Hector Gonzalez - declared that one of the alleged leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, lived in the northern parts of his state and that everyone except the authorities knew it.
"The country is large and has different social realities," said Ramon Castro, bishop in the southern Mexican state of Campeche, at Tuesday's press conference. "We have some very strong diocese living with this situation - the threat of drug trafficking. Other diocese have peace."
Castro said he believed Gonzalez made his statements without considering their potential impact but assured that "he is not afraid."
Mexico is a predominantly Catholic country, with nearly 15,000 priests nationwide. But the country's clergy have also felt the effects of violence, extortion and threats stemming from organized crime and drug trafficking in recent years.
Since taking office in December 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderón has ordered a massive deployment of soldiers and federal agents to confront the cartels.
The violence has resulted in more than 10,700 murders since December 2006.
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