(ZENIT News / León, Guanajuato, México, 05.22.2025).- San Bartolo de Berrios, Mexico — A night that began in festivity ended in horror as gunmen believed to be members of organized crime opened fire in a small Mexican village, killing seven young men—some of them minors—in a brutal attack that has shaken the local Church and reignited national outcry over Mexico’s persistent wave of violence.
The bloodshed unfolded in the early hours of May 19 in the main square of San Bartolo de Berrios, a rural community nestled in Guanajuato state. The victims were reportedly gathered at the close of a parish-organized celebration marking Mother’s Day. Instead of returning home with memories of joy, families awoke to a nightmare of grief.
The Conference of the Mexican Episcopate (CEM) released a poignant statement mourning the victims and condemning the slaughter as yet another tragic example of the country’s deteriorating security landscape. “We join in the pain of the families who today mourn the loss of their loved ones,” the bishops said. “We embrace the Archdiocese of León, whose soil is stained once more with innocent blood.”
Local authorities said police were dispatched to the scene at approximately 2:36 a.m. following reports of gunfire. Upon arrival, officers found a vehicle riddled with bullet holes and the lifeless bodies of seven males. The assailants had vanished, leaving behind devastation and questions still unanswered.
For Archbishop Jaime Calderón Calderón of León, the massacre was more than an act of terror—it was a violation of sacred community space. “Armed individuals from a cartel arrived and opened fire without mercy,” he said. “This occurred at the end of a parish celebration. It is an affront not only to human life but to the spiritual dignity of our people.”
The bishops did not mince words in addressing what they described as a national emergency. “We cannot remain indifferent to the spiral of violence that tears through so many communities across our country,” they declared. “This massacre, one of too many, signals the unraveling of our social fabric and the persistence of impunity.”
Their statement was both lament and call to action. The bishops urged authorities at all levels—municipal, state, and federal—to fulfill their constitutional duty to provide security and justice, lamenting that “we cannot become accustomed to violent death, nor allow impunity to become the rule.”
The message also reached beyond government to civil society and the Church itself. Mexican citizens, the bishops said, must resist indifference and despair, committing instead to a grassroots culture of peace rooted in everyday life—families, neighborhoods, schools, and faith communities.
«Violence will not be defeated by force alone,” the statement read. “It requires a cultural transformation that recovers the sacredness of every human life.”
Within the Church, parishes were called to become oases of peace and hope, bastions against the tide of death. “Be witnesses of hope, agents of reconciliation, and artisans of peace,” the bishops encouraged, stressing that communities of faith must proclaim with conviction: evil does not have the last word.
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