Many parishes lack resources, having not received money in the collection basket because of suspended services.

Catholic church authorities are demanding an investigation into one of Mexico's most notorious crimes: the murder a decade ago of 72 migrants by drug cartel gunmen.

A tireless promoter of missionary work, Italian-born Bishop Eugenio Scarpellini of El Alto, Bolivia devoted his life to the people of his adopted country.

The testimony was offered at the trial of Inocente Orlando Montano, a former colonel in the army of El Salvador, on trial in Spain for the murders of six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter on the campus of a Catholic university in 1989.

"We see with increasing urgency the need for a state intelligently existing and dialoguing with the community to respond to the emergency produced by the pandemic," they said.

A Salvadoran military commander is on trial in Spain for his involvement for the murder of the Salvadoran martyrs at the Jesuit-run Central American University over three decades ago.

Father Andreu Oliva, rector of the Jesuit Jose Simeon Canas Central American University in El Salvador, issued a blistering assessment of the first year in office for President Nayib Bukele.

Mexico has recorded 13,842 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,305 deaths, the Health Secretariat reported April 26.

Deportations of migrants to Central America has continued during the COVID-19 crisis, even though the countries to which the migrants are being sent have otherwise closed their borders and imposed quarantines.

Catholic migrant ministries in Latin America are calling for an end to deportations while the pandemic continues.