The Diocese of San Juan de Los Lagos in Jalisco state, Mexico, mourned the Feb. 10 shooting death of one of its priests, Father Juan Angulo Fonseca.
According to the Mexican newspaper El Financiero, the 53-year-old priest was shot from behind with two blasts of a shotgun. The homicide occurred in the Atotonilco el Alto district of the state of Jalisco.
According to the initial investigation, the murder was apparently due to a dispute over land.
“The Diocese of San Juan de los Lagos lifts up prayers to God, the Father of Mercy, for the heartbreaking death of Father Juan Angulo Fonseca,” the diocese said in a Feb. 11 statement.
“May God reward the dedication of his life in the name of Christ for the Church! May his soul and that of all the faithful departed, by the mercy of God, rest in peace!” the statement concluded.
“We entrust to God and to his infinite mercy, that he would grant him to celebrate the eternal Eucharist in the company of the Virgin Mary, the angels and the saints, and that he would help us, pilgrims on this earth, to always seek paths of peace and brotherhood,” wrote Archbishop Jorge Alberto Cavazos, apostolic administrator of the Diocese of San Juan de los Lagos.
“I commend to all the priests to offer a novena of Masses and prayers for our brother,” the prelate said in a statement.
Angulo was born in the town of Tepatitlán de Morelos in Jalisco state on Jan. 24, 1970. He was ordained a priest on May 2, 1998.
The priest had been working since 2017 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in the town of Valle de Guadalupe.
Father Angulo also served in other parishes such as Immaculate Conception, St. Joseph the Worker, and Holy Spirit.