El Salvador: Lutheran pastors assassinated
Mural painting of Martin Luther, El Salvador
The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) have reacted together to news of the "despicable" assassination on 4 November of Lutheran Church in El Salvador co-pastors Francisco Carillo and his wife Jesús Calzada de Carillo.
In a joint letter to El Salvador's Lutheran Bishop Medardo Gómez, the Latin America/Caribbean secretaries of the two ecumenical organizations express the "deep pain and despair produced by these violent deaths", and call on the Salvadorean authorities to make sure that those responsible for the killings do not go unpunished.
Praying that peace and wisdom be granted to the Lutheran Church of El Salvador "in these moments of pain and indignation", the letter encourages the church to "persevere in its testimony of reconciliation and peace, and not allow itself to be dragged into the spiral of violence that threatens to gain an ever-wider hold on Salvadorean society".
