Ten Roman Catholic priests and one seminary student were murdered during the six-year term of former Mexican President Andres Obrador, according to a new report.
The Catholic Multimedia Centre (CCM) says an additional seven bishops and seven priests were violently attacked during the same period but survived.
Another priest has already been murdered under the new presidency of Claudia Sheinbaum who was elected in October.
Fr Marcelo Pérez Pérez was fatally shot on 20 October after officiating Mass in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas State.
The authors of the report, Guillermo Gazanini Espinoza, Head of Information at CCM, and Father Sergio Omar Sotelo Aguilar, CCM Director, noted that they also documented almost 900 cases of members associated with ministries of the Roman Catholic Church being extorted or threatened, and 26 attacks on religious buildings, during that period.
Commenting on Fr Perez' death, they said: "His assassination was not circumstantial, nor was it ‘collateral damage’, and, in a cunning manner, it showed that his pastoral actions and activity in favour of human rights was inconvenient to those who cut short his existence."
The report also noted that a culture of impunity means that cases of threats and extortion targeting religious leaders, including many working in social and humanitarian ministries in parts of the country with a strong presence of organised criminal groups, are seriously underreported due to the reluctance of the victims to make formal reports.
Pablo Vargas, National Director of Impulso18, attended the launch. He said: "The findings of the report come as no surprise. Religious leaders, especially those who are working with the most marginalised and speaking out against corruption and in favour of human rights and peace, are often identified by organised criminal groups as problems to be silenced or eliminated altogether. We call on President Sheinbaum to work with state governments to combat a culture of impunity and to implement effective mechanisms to protect human rights defenders, including religious leaders, who are under threat."
CSW’s Director of Advocacy Anna Lee Stangl said: "The CCM has been documenting this trend for almost 35 years and it is of deep concern that attacks on priests and religious leaders spiked and have remained steadily high over the past three presidential administrations, with no real sign of improvement."