23 CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES INCLUDING ONE BISHOP WERE KILLED IN 2010

The Lord Jesus was nailed to the Cross physically. Then, His Mystical Body the Church is also being persecuted...

Bishop Among Missionaries Killed in 2010

23 Murders Reported Worldwide

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 10, 2011 (Zenit.org).- A bishop was among the 23 Catholic missionaries murdered while serving last year, the Vatican's Fides agency is reporting.

The list of pastoral workers who died violent deaths while on active duty in 2010 was compiled by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. It recognizes those who sacrificed their lives due to hatred of the faith or other reasons, but avoids using the term "martyrs," leaving this judgment of merit to the Church.

In 2009, 37 missionary murders were reported; in 2010 there were 23, which included one bishop, 15 priests, one male religious, one religious sister, two seminarians and three lay people.

Bishop Luigi Padovese, 63, who served as vicar apostolic of Anatolia, Turkey, was knifed to death on June 3 by his driver in his home in Iskenderun.

The majority of the deaths took place in North and South America, including five in Brazil, three in Colombia, two in Mexico, two in Peru, and one each in Venezuela, Haiti and Ecuador.

Brazil

Among those killed in Brazil were Father Dejair Gonçalves de Almeida, 32, and former seminarian Epaminondas Marques da Silva, 26, who were kidnapped March 14 in Volta Redonda and killed by blows to the head by men looking for money.

On May 20, Father Rubens Almeida Gonçalves, 35, was shot in the head in his Campo Belos parish.

Mario Dayvit Pinheiro Reis, 31, a seminarian, was killed in front of his family's home in Brasilia by a gunshot fired by a thief on July 4, only a year before he would have received his ordination to the deaconate.

On Nov. 20, only two months after his priestly ordination, Father Bernardo Muniz Rabelo Amaral, 28, associate pastor in Humberto de Campos, was shot several times by a man to whom he was giving a lift in his car.

Other countries

In Colombia, Brother Luis Enrique Pineda, 57, Salesian coadjutor, was killed March 20 in Bogota by three robbers who stabbed him and left him to die.

The dead, naked body of Father Román de Jesús Zapata, 51, was found in his rectory in Turbo on March 24. The authorities state that he was suffocated to death.

On Aug. 20, Father Herminio Calero Alumia, 36, was killed on the road between Bogota and Soacha.

In Mexico, Father José Luis Parra Puerto, 50, was killed on Feb. 17, Ash Wednesday, by men who stole his truck in Vasco de Quiroga.

The lifeless body of Father Carlos Salvador Wotto, 83, was found July 28 in Oaxaca, gagged and bound, with cigarette burns and cut marks all over, and a plastic bag over his face.

In Peru's capital, Lima, Franciscan Father Linán Ruiz Morales, 80, a Puerto Rican who worked with the youth and the poor in Peru since 1978, was found dead in his convent bedroom from cuts to the neck. A lay colleague, Ananias Aguila, 26, was found stabbed to death in the kitchen next to the church, where there is a canteen for the poor.

An American priest, Father Esteban Robert Wood, 68, was killed April 28 near his parish in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, where he had been serving for the past 23 years. A few weeks earlier he had initiated a "Campaign for the Defense of Life and of Peace" to combat violence.

In Haiti, a Caritas worker, Julien Kénord, 27, was murdered Oct. 8 in Port-au-Prince after an attempted robbery.

A 45-year-old Polish priest, Franciscan Father Miroslaw Karczewski, was killed in his rectory in Domingo de Los Colorados, Ecuador, by thieves who attacked him with a large crucifix on Dec. 6.