(Death, Heaven, Purgatory, Hell)
Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults
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Vatican Grieves Murder of Portuguese
Elderly
Priest Killed at Short Range
BAILUNDO, Angola, FEB. 10, 2006 (Zenit.org).-
The Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples expressed its sadness
over the murder of Portuguese missionary Father José Afonso, 80.
The priest of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, "was shot seven times at
close range in the face," a church source in Angola told Fides.
"The missionary had just gone to bed when about 15 armed men broke into his room
and shot him dead without even giving him time to get out of bed," reported
Fides.
Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of
Peoples, and Archbishop Robert Sarah, the dicastery's secretary, sent a telegram
of sympathy to Archbishop José de Queirós Alves of Huambo and to Father Jean
Paul Hoch, superior general of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, for the
missionary's death.
In his message, the cardinal expressed "the heartfelt sympathy of the missionary
dicastery for the grave loss of a generous servant of the Gospel."
Cardianal Sepe said that he hopes that the blood shed by the priest "will become
a seed of Christian forgiveness, faith, hope and charity.'
"I assure fervent prayers for the eternal repose of this chosen soul," he said.
Police think the motive was robbery. "[T]he modest house was turned upside down
and the catechist, the missionary's assistant, was threatened and ordered to
hand over objects of value," Fides reported.