Fr Marcelo Pérez shows a monstrance to a resident of Simojovel, in Mexico’s Chiapas state, June 13, 2020. Photo: OSV News/courtesy David Agren Fr Marcelo Pérez, a priest of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas in the Mexican state of Chiapas, died on October 20, killed by two men who shot him after he had celebrated Mass. His diocese now remembers him as a “tireless apostle of peace”.
According to information provided by the diocese through a statement shared on October 21, Fr Pérez was born on January 17, 1974, in San Andrés Larráinzar in Chiapas state.
From a young age he felt the call to the priesthood and entered the Our Lady of Guadalupe seminary in 1990 in the Archdiocese of Tuxtla Gutierrez. He was ordained a priest on April 6, 2002.
During his ministry, Pérez worked in various parishes. In his last two years, he served as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in San Cristóbal de las Casas.
His pastoral work included tasks such as coordinator of the Social Ministry of the Province of Chiapas. According to the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas: “His life was spent in search of justice and peace, especially in Simojovel, Pantelho, and San Cristóbal de las Casas”.
The diocesan statement noted that this commitment earned him consequences. ”All this service he performed led him to suffer a long period of threats, persecution, harassment, slander, defamation, even an unfounded arrest warrant, which put his personal safety at risk, to the point of his life being taken.”
One of the most difficult moments of his ministry occurred in 2021 when 21 young people were kidnapped by the self-defence group “El Machete” with whom Pérez was said to have ties. According to local media, the attorney general’s office of the state of Chiapas issued an arrest warrant for him, but it was never carried out.
The Mexican Bishops’ Conference lamented in a statement the “brutal murder” of the priest, noting that this act “not only deprives the community of a dedicated pastor but also silences a prophetic voice that tirelessly fought for peace with truth and justice in the Chiapas region”.
The Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas also issued a statement in which it demanded that the three levels of government “completely halt the violence” affecting Chiapas, describing it as the result of “impunity, complicity, and corruption”.
The diocese reiterated its demand for the “immediate disarmament and dismantling of crime gangs” operating in the region. It also called for the murder of Fr Pérez to be solved and for “justice be done until those truly responsible are found”.