Pope blasts violence in Mexico as he mourns 2 slain Jesuits

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has blasted the violence that plagues Mexico as he mourned the slaying of two “brother” Jesuits who were gunned down in a remote Mexican church. Francis, an Argentine Jesuit, offered prayers to the Jesuit community at the end of his weekly general audience on Wednesday. The 79- and 80-year-old priests were killed Monday inside the church in Mexico’s Chihuahua state by apparent drug gang members. A man being pursued by a drug gang had apparently sought refuge in the church, and the gang members killed him and the priests. Francis said he was “saddened and dismayed” to learn of the slayings.