Guatemalans commemorate Bishop Gerardi's death

National Catholic Reporter, Nov 6, 1998 by Teresa Malcolm

With the laying of a plaque and celebration of a Mass, several thousand Guatemalans commemorated the six months since the murder of Auxiliary Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera of Guatemala City.

Meanwhile, Guatemala's bishops' conference issued its most strongly worded communique yet urging a fuller and more "ethical" investigation into the murder and calling the killing a "premeditated strike" against the church.

"Bishop Gerardi, a martyr for people" said the banners held by participants who gathered Oct. 26 with numerous bishops, priests and lay people in the late afternoon in front of the St. Sebastian Parish house, where the bishop was killed the night of April 26. To resounding applause, Auxiliary Bishop Mario Rios Mont unveiled a small plaque on the front of the house with the inscription "Bishop Gerardi, a trusted witness." A Mass was then held in the chapel of St. Sebastian, where Gerardi used to preach.

Rios Mont, who was appointed to the parish after Gerardi's death, told worshipers that the church maintains its demand for a fuller investigation into what he termed "this special ... premeditated crime."

The Catholic church has consistently criticized official investigations into the killing, which have centered on trying to prove the involvement of a diocesan priest who shared the parish house with Gerardi. Fr. Mario Orantes, who has repeatedly declared his innocence, has been in detention since mid-July. On Oct. 21 the public prosecutor formalized murder charges and requested trial proceedings against him.

The bishops have stressed the need to broaden the inquiries to look at the role of the army in the killing. Just two days before his death, Gerardi released a comprehensive report saying that the military committed most of the atrocities during the war that ended in December 1996.

A preliminary trial date for Orantes was set for Nov. 10. But a petition to remove the judge from the case, presented by Orantes' lawyers Oct. 26, will mean that the hearing will be postponed and the case temporarily delayed as a higher court resolves the new defense request.

Briefs, gathered from news services, correspondents and staff, are compiled and edited by Teresa Malcolm.