According to Church officials, the priest was found alive on 13 November but appears to have been tortured.
Mexico
Population: 128.6 million, 121.8 million Christians (mainly Roman Catholic)
Government: Federal republic
World Watch List Rank: 40
Source of Persecution: Organised corruption/Inter-Christian discrimination/Secular intolerance
Fr Jose Luis Sanchez Ruiz's disappearance had caused two days of protest in the town of Catemaco.
Protesters said Fr Sanchez Ruiz had been targeted because he was vocal about corruption and human rights violations in Veracruz.
He is the third priest to be abducted in the Mexican state since September. The bodies of the others were found shot dead by multiple bullets on a roadside.
Over 30 Catholic priests have been murdered in Mexico since 2006.
Mexico's Catholic Media Centre says the country is the most dangerous in the world to be a priest.
The US State Department wrote in its 2015 International Religious Freedom report that priests in Mexico are "victims of extortion attempts, death threats, and intimidation by organised criminal groups."