About Christian Persecution Mexico
Mexico is a secular country, but it is also an extremely lawless one, prompting the Roman Catholic Church to brand it “the most dangerous country in the world to exercise priesthood.” In the 2022-2023 period twenty-seven killings of persecuted Christians were recorded by the new GCR Violent Incidents Database, the eighth highest in the world.
The primary persecutors are organized crime gangs, especially linked to violent drug cartels. Pastors are targeted for extortion because of their presumed links to western donors. One pastor in Monterrey was visited by cartel thugs who gave him the familiar choice – “sliver or lead.” They said, “pay us $5000 a month or you get a bullet.”
Christians in the rural regions are much more likely to suffer violence as the police fear to go into these regions run as fiefdoms for a local “godfather” figure. Believers also from indigenous religious backgrounds also face a backlash from the locals in their village and have to flee to the towns after being beaten up or burned out.
