Two Jesuit priests have been found murdered in Moscow. The bodies of Jesuit Fathers Otto Messmer, 47, and Victor Betancourt, 42, who worked at Moscow's Church of St. Louis de France, were found in an apartment late on Tuesday.

The Russian authorities suspect Father Messmer was killed on Monday as he had just returned to Moscow from Germany that evening. Father Betancourt, however, may have been killed before 26 October, as he did not attend Sunday Mass that day.

The priests were discovered after a third priest went to visit them out of concern that no one had seen or heard from them.

The Russian bishops' conference called the murders a "terrible crime" and prayed that the Russian authorities would catch the perpetrators.

In a statement sent to Vatican Radio, the conference said, "The assassin is in a state of serious, horrible sin and whoever committed (the crime) must undergo just punishment," reports the Catholic News Service.

The conference also said it hoped Russian courts and society would pronounce "an objective juridical and moral judgment" for the murders.

Father Adolfo Nicolas, superior general of the Jesuits asked the order to pray for their brothers in Russia and for an end to all violence.

An investigation into the murders is currently underway.