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Why Can a Priest Unsettle Organized Crime? A Catholic Media Director Explains
Father Omar Sotelo tells Press Crux how supporting victims and defending communities can put priests at odds with organized crime. Following the safe return of Father Clemente Morales Topete in Culiacán, he warns of the harassment and impunity affecting members of the Church in Mexico.
INTERVIEW | THE CHURCH IN MEXICO
Ana Paula Morales (Poli)
10/27/20264 min read
Photo caption: Father Omar Sotelo Aguilar, director of the Centro Católico Multimedia. Photo courtesy of Father Omar Sotelo.
MEXICO CITY — When a priest is killed, the consequences reach those who relied on him for help, guidance and protection. For Father Sergio Omar Sotelo Aguilar, director of the Centro Católico Multimedia (CCM), such crimes can weaken communities where the Church provides essential services and supports victims of violence.
“A priest is a stabilizing force in his parish community,” he told Press Crux. He points to the work carried out through parishes: alongside spiritual care, he cites medical and educational assistance, protection for victims and the defense of human rights. Those efforts, he says, sometimes fill gaps left by an inadequate government response.
Drawing on his experience leading CCM, Sotelo believes that presence can unsettle criminal groups seeking to impose their control over a population. “All of this concerns organized crime groups,” he said. In his assessment, attacking a priest can destabilize a community and help expand what he calls “the narco-economy, narco-politics and narco-culture.”
His analysis addresses the social consequences of these attacks. The motives and responsibility in each case must be established through an investigation.
Father Clemente found alive
The interview follows concern over Father Clemente Morales Topete, who was reported missing on October 24, 2026, in Culiacán, Sinaloa. On Tuesday, October 27, the state’s Secretariat of Public Security announced that he had been found safe and well in the city.
According to the department’s statement, reported by UnoTV, members of an interagency task force went to his parish to follow up on security measures and the investigation. The announcement provided no details about the circumstances of his absence and did not establish that he had been the victim of a crime.
“Fortunately, Father Clemente’s case has had a positive outcome,” Sotelo said. He noted, however, that CCM continues to monitor the cases of three other priests it lists as missing: Santiago Álvarez Figueroa, Carlos Órnelas Puga and Francisco Núñez Martínez.
In its 2025 annual report, the organization lists Álvarez Figueroa, of the Diocese of Zamora, as missing since December 29, 2012; Órnelas Puga since November 3, 2013; and Núñez Martínez, a member of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, since February 7, 2025.
“Very severe and dangerous” harassment
In the tally he shared with Press Crux, Father Omar said CCM has recorded the killings of 14 priests in Mexico. Its 2025 annual report previously documented 13 killings between 2018 and 2025.
The organization’s 2024 annual report, meanwhile, recorded nearly 900 cases of extortion and death threats against members of the Catholic Church during the 2018–2024 period. The reports cover different time frames and illustrate forms of violence beyond homicide.
Sotelo distinguishes religious persecution from the harassment he describes in Mexico. “While there is no religious persecution as such, there is very severe and dangerous harassment of members of the Catholic Church, their collaborators and their facilities,” he said.
His assessment encompasses attacks on priests as well as those affecting parish workers and the places where parish life unfolds. The concern therefore extends to people who turn to the Church for support and those involved in its pastoral and social work.
Impunity compounds the harm
The violence is compounded by a lack of justice. In the conclusions of its 2025 annual report, CCM estimated that more than 80% of the crimes it examined remained unpunished, an assessment Sotelo reiterated in this interview.
Discussing unresolved cases, he cited the killing of Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo and those of other priests that, he said, remain unsolved. His appeal centers on the need to investigate the crimes, establish responsibility and provide answers to the families and communities affected.
Sotelo considers the public security response at all levels of government insufficient. He also argues that organized crime’s infiltration of government agencies makes combating violence more difficult.
In his view, protecting communities and solving these attacks remain obligations the authorities have yet to fulfill. The harm he describes includes both the loss of a life and the breakdown of the relationships of trust and support that person sustained.
Family life and the formation of conscience
In discussing prevention, Sotelo places particular emphasis on the formation of conscience and family life. He believes strong family bonds and faith can help people resist corruption.
“We need to begin with a radical change in the human conscience, and that starts in the family,” he said.
His testimony returns to the relationships that sustain a community: families, parishes and networks of solidarity that support people in distress. Where a priest protects victims, provides assistance or defends rights, his absence can leave a void that reaches far beyond the church walls.
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