Mexico

A Mexican priest remains in serious condition after being shot four times while traveling to minister to a sick person—an attack reinforcing Mexico's reputation as one of the world's most dangerous for clergy, despite its large Catholic population.

The Mexican bishops' conference has condemned a massacre of seven young people—including minors—at a parish festival, while urging action on the part of authorities amid rising violence and warning the population to avoid indifference in the face of recurring atrocities.

Mexican parishioners placed eight candles on church altars in memory of the eight young people shot dead in an attack outside a parish church.

Mexico's Catholic clergy have called for a truce on Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and on Christmas Day as criminal violence wracks swaths of the country and clergy working in conflictive regions come under threat.