NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      GUATEMALA CITY (CWNews.com) -- Archbishop Prospero Penados del Barrio of Guatemala City said that he is "appalled" by the naming of two more priests in the investigation into the murder of auxiliary Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera. However, the archbishop promised that Church authorities would continue to cooperate with investigators.

      On Saturday, a local prosecutor named two priests: Msgr. Efrain Hernandez, the chancellor of the archdiocese, and Father Marco Aurelio Gonzalez, an urban pastor, in connection with the murder probe. Local newspapers said that these two priests were being "accused" of involvement in the murder-- along with Father Sergio Orantes, who was taken into custody last week. But Nery Rodenas, an attorney for the human-rights office of the archdiocese, said that the prosecutor had called the two priests "only as witnesses."

      "This is very confusing, since no detail of how and why the two priests are being involved," said Archbishop Penados, who also described himself as "appalled and frustrated" at this latest turn in the investigation. Nevertheless, he said that the archdiocese will keep helping investigators "to arrive to the whole truth about this case. He announced that the two priests will appear in court "soon," with their lawyers, to testify.

      The archdiocesan human-rights office, meanwhile, reiterated complaints that the investigation was a sham, and called for a serious probe into the rumors that the responsibility for bishop's killing could be traced to the country's military leadership.