The Archdiocese of Puebla issued a strong statement condemning the violent events that occurred on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 17, in the chapel of the Lord of Mercy, located in the Buena Vista neighborhood, belonging to the parish of San Baltazar Tetela. In the incident, an armed group fired multiple times at people who were carrying out painting work on the exterior of the temple, resulting in the unfortunate murder of the young Álvaro Meneses González, 20 years old.
According to the official statement from the archdiocese, signed by the episcopal vicar and dated the same day as the incident, these events reflect «the loss of the sense of the sacredness of human life». The Puebla Church expressed its absolute rejection of all forms of violence, emphasizing that nothing justifies attacking the integrity of people. «When homicidal violence painfully erupts even in sacred spaces, the urgency becomes even more evident to unite as a Church, civil authorities, and society as a whole to promote dialogue and reconciliation, the application of justice, education in values, and respect for everyone’s life», states the document.
The murder of Meneses González has not only shocked the local community but is part of an alarming pattern of attacks against temples and religious facilities in Mexico. According to the 2025 Annual Report from the Catholic Multimedia Center (CCM), «Report on the Incidence of Violence Against Priests and Institutions of the Catholic Church in Mexico», attacks on religious buildings have experienced a significant increase in recent years.
On pages 12 and 13 of the report, the CCM documents that Mexico has more than 11,000 registered Catholic temples, a figure that could rise to around 30,000 if smaller chapels, oratories, and hermitages are included. These sacred spaces face an average of 26 to 28 violent incidents per week, equivalent to approximately 1,400 attacks per year. This statistic represents a drastic increase compared to the 1990s, when only four weekly incidents were reported, multiplying by seven in the present day.
The report estimates that around 12% of Catholic temples in the country suffer at least one annual attack, based on the 1,350 cases documented in 2024, with a similar projection for 2025. The distribution of crimes reveals a worrying panorama:
– 84%: Common robberies, which include the theft of religious objects, assaults on the faithful, «milking» of collection boxes or alms boxes, and the theft of metals such as bronze or copper, as well as sacred art for profit.
– 10%: Direct aggressions attributed to organized crime, involving high-impact crimes with firearms.
– 6%: Direct attacks against the faith, such as sacrileges, profanations of sacred objects, denigration of religious images or cemeteries adjacent to temples.
The CCM highlights the lack of updated data on the theft of sacred art, particularly in rural communities where security resources are nonexistent. Although advances in the recovery of cultural heritage are mentioned—such as the repatriation of 2,158 objects in 2024-2025 by the federal Government, in collaboration with the Secretariat of Culture, the INAH, and the SRE—the recovery rates remain low: only one in every 100 stolen cultural pieces is recovered. A emblematic case cited in the report is the return, in November 2025, of an 18th-century oil painting of Saint Francis of Assisi, stolen in 2001 from the parish of San Francisco Mazapa in Teotihuacán, State of Mexico.
In the context of Puebla, the attack on the Buena Vista chapel adds to other recent incidents in regions such as Guerrero, Veracruz, Guanajuato, and Jalisco, where organized crime violence has turned temples into «extensions» of the general insecurity, according to the prologue of the same CCM report. The Archdiocese of Puebla made an urgent call to the authorities to investigate the crime and guarantee the tranquility of Puebla families, raising prayers for the eternal rest of the young man murdered, the consolation of his family and parishioners, and peace in the temples.
This event highlights the need for immediate actions to stop the erosion of moral values in a society marked by inequality and impunity, as the CCM warns. While the temple will remain temporarily closed due to the crime, the Catholic community implores the Risen Lord to grant the gift of peace that Mexico so longs for.