El Salvador: priest arrested for helping drug gangs
August 06, 2014
El Salvador’s leading prelate has come to the defense of Father Antonio Rodriguez Tercero, a priest arrested on charges of smuggling drugs to prisoners and helping gang members extort others.
The priest, who is known for his efforts to rehabilitate gang members, maintains his innocence. Another priest at his parish called the arrest “a kind of persecution for Father Tony’s stance on the problem of violence,” according to the Associated Press.
Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador said that “the Church is respectful of justice” and urged investigators to “act in accordance with truth and justice,” L’Osservatore Romano reported.
Preaching at his cathedral, the prelate called upon the faithful to “remember all the good” the priest has done and to “express our love and our solidarity.”
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Further information:
- El Salvador charges priest with helping gang (AP)
- Al fianco di padre Toño (L’Osservatore Romano, p. 6)
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