Aspiring priest brings youth to the "Gang of Christ"

Jose Luis Guerra, 34, also walks those pathways, searching for young gang members who might listen to his message.

It is a risky vocation: although violence in Monterrey has fallen from the bloody peaks of 2011, an unknown man pacing the streets after dark still risks being construed as a threat.

"My alba is my shield," Guerra says, referring to his white religious robes.

Sometimes seen in his Superman logo baseball cap, Guerra is a deacon, and will be ordained as a priest in mid-August.

Guerra bumps fists with the young boys and girls he meets, and when he talks to them, he sounds more like a psychologist than a priest. Given to cracking jokes, he says of his considerable girth: "It just means that I am full of love."

Often he visits the backstreets with some of his 15 fellow missionaries, two-thirds of whom are ex-gang members themselves.

The process of becoming a missionary means renouncing not necessarily the gang, but acts that Guerra says devalue people as human beings: theft, assault, insult and, in some cases, murder.

This is followed by three days at 'camp' where candidates must reflect on their lives and commitment to Christ; then, seven weeks at missionary school and finally, upon graduation, a party complete with cumbia dance music.

The official ceremony takes place in a public square, where Guerra explains the responsibilities that come with the job, then presents a Bible to the kneeling subjects.

A few weeks must pass before the newly-minted missionaries can begin visiting neighbourhoods - first Guerra and the others must tell local gangs the new recruits are no longer their enemies. Instead, he says, they are now members of the "Gang of Christ."