Four people, reported as tourists, were kidnapped and a tour guide was gunned down inside a church, in northern Mexico, sparking condemnation from the Pope.
Two priests were also shot dead alongside the tour guide who had sought refuge there.
Earlier in the day four tourists were kidnapped from a nearby hotel.
Both incidents happened in the town of Cerocahui, near the US border and are thought to be connected.
“They entered the church, chased a person and murdered him. Apparently the priests came out and they were also killed,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said at a press briefing.
The four tourists, two men, a woman and a child, taken from the hotel are still missing, although unconfirmed reports said the woman and child were found safe.
Pope Francis said he was shocked by the killings.
“So many killings in Mexico,” Francis said.
A suspect was named with a massive manhunt underway.
