MEXICO CITY — A Catholic priest was wounded in a shooting on a highway in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero, the Mexican Council of Bishops said late Thursday.

Father Felipe Vélez Jiménez, the pastor of St. Gerard Maria Majella parish in the town of Iguala, in the Diocese of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, was "shot in the cheekbone while driving his vehicle in Chilapa county, in the State of Guerrero,” according to a statement from the Mexican Bishops’ Conference.

"Our brother priest was transferred to the hospital where he is sedated and out of danger," the conference said in its statement released the night of July 28.

The Mexican bishops expressed their gratitude "to the entire team of doctors who are treating him and we reject these terrible acts of violence that we are experiencing in Mexico."

"We pray that God would grant us the peace that we long for and we pray for the conversion of criminals who cause so much pain to society," the bishops added.

Speaking with Milenio Televisión July 28, Father Filiberto Velázquez, a friend of the wounded priest, said that "violence in Mexico no longer respects anyone, it has already gotten to the churches, the priests, and this is intensifying."

"We are concerned," said the priest, and "we hope that the authorities can conduct an investigation to determine who is responsible for this attack."
Velázquez pointed out that "the presence of organized crime is very strong" in the region, so "we're not ruling out that they confused him with someone else."

"What worries us is that the delinquency, criminality, and level of impunity don’t allow these rates to drop and that they can affect any citizen," he said.

The bishop of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, José de Jesús González Hernández, said in a statement that "Father Felipe is being cared for by specialists, who tell us that he’s in poor condition, but stable, which gives us great hope for his recovery."