Once again this year, the Vatican published an annual document of all the pastoral workers who lost their lives to violence in 2010. Throughout this year, 23 pastoral care workers were killed. These included one Bishop, 15 priests, one male religious, one religious sister, two seminarians and three lay people.
The North and South American continents were again the scene of the majority of these deaths: 10 priests, one male religious, one seminarian and three lay people. Following on is Asia, with one Bishop, four priests and one religious sister killed. The least affected was Africa, where one priest and one seminarian violently lost their lives.
Vatican sources noted that these are not necessarily considered martyrs, "since it is up to the Church to judge their possible merits and also because of the scarcity of available information in most of cases, with regard to their life and even the circumstances of their death." However, the sources noted that the beatification process has begun for the following individuals: Fr Daniele Badiali, a native of the diocese of Faenza (Italy), who killed in Peru in 1997, and Father Jerzy Popieluszko, who was murdered communist security forces on October 20, 1984, near Wroclawek, Poland.
According to the Pope, "Martyrdom is 'a form of total love for God', founded on the death of Jesus, on his supreme sacrifice of love, consumed on the Cross so that we might have life', and the strength to face it '“from the profound and intimate union with Christ, because martyrdom and the vocation to martyrdom are not the result of human effort, but the response to an initiative and a call from God. They are gifts of His grace, which enable them to offer their lives for the love of Christ and the Church, and thus the world”.
The scant biographical notes of these brothers and sisters killed help us to understand how they offered all their lives, almost always in the silence and humility of daily work, “for the love of Christ and the Church, and thus the world.” Their radical and total commitment was the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, made not only with words but with the testimony of their lives, in situations of suffering, poverty, tension, violence... without discrimination of any kind, but with the sole aim of ensuring the Father's love and promoting the human person, created in the image and likeness of God.
The cause for the beatification of these victims of violence may come later. Some were victims of robberies or kidnappings. According to the sources, "Others were killed in the name of Christ by those opposing love with hatred, hope with despair, dialogue with violent opposition, the right to perpetrate abuses."
“Our world continues to be marked by violence, especially against the disciples of Christ,” said Pope Benedict XVI on December 26 after praying the Angelus. He noted that “the ground is bathed in blood” in various parts of the world. In November, for example, Islamist terrorists killed Catholics while they attended Mass in Iraq.
Here follows the complete report as given by the FIDES news service:
OVERVIEW OF THE CONTINENTS
AMERICA
In America 15 pastoral care workers were killed: 10 priests, one male religious, one seminarian and three lay people. They were killed in: Brazil (5), Colombia (3), Mexico (2), Peru (2), Venezuela, Haiti, Ecuador.
In Brazil, where also this year the greatest number of pastoral care workers were killed, the deaths of Father Dejair Gonçalves de Almeida and the lay person Epaminondas Marques da Silva were discovered, attacked in the rectory by robbers in search of money; Father Rubens Almeida Gonçalves, assassinated in his parish probably for a disagreement with a person whom he denied rental of one of the parish rooms; Seminarian Mario Dayvit Pinheiro Reis, killed by murderers who wanted to take possession of his car; Father Bernardo Muniz Rabelo Amaral, killed by a man who he gave a lift to.
In Colombia they discovered the death of Father Román de Jesús Zapata, killed during the night in the rectory of his parish; Father Herminio Calero Alumia, killed during a discussion at a police blockade; Luis Enrique Pineda, Salesian Coadjutor, who was robbed and knifed to death.
In Mexico, Father José Luis Parra Puerto died, killed after having been robbed of the car which he was driving; Father Carlos Salvador Wotto, found in his parish gagged and bound, with cigarette burns to his arms and cut marks all over his body.
In Peru there were various victims when thieves entered the convent to rob Father Linán Ruiz Morales, OFM, and his colleague, Ananias Aguila: the body of the former was found in his bedroom, turned upside down, the second was found in the kitchen next to the church, where there is a canteen for the poor.
In Venezuela the death of Father Esteban Robert Wood was discovered: the murder is attributed to a theft perpetrated by strangers and finally he was killed. In Ecuador the body of Polish missionary Father Miroslaw Karczewski was found in the rectory of his parish, with wounds to his neck and to other parts of his body. After he was killed, by hitting him with a great crucifix, the thieves stole his mobile telephone and computer. In Haiti Caritas worker, Julien Kénord, was killed following an attempted robbery. He had in fact just received a check in a local bank when he was attacked with blows from a firearm by strangers.
ASIA
In 2010 in Asia the deaths of sic pastoral care workers were recorded: One Bishop, four priests, one religious sister. They died in: Iraq (2), China (2), India, Turkey.
In Turkey Bishop Luigi Padovese, President of the Episcopal Conference of Turkey, was knifed to death by his driver while he was at his home in Iskenderun. In Iraq Father Wasim Sabieh and Father Thaier Saad Abdal were killed during the attack on the Syrian Catholic Cathedral of Bagdad, which caused dozens of deaths and injuries among the faithful who were gathered for Sunday Holy Mass.
In China Father Joseph Zhang Shulai, General Vicar of the Diocese of Ningxia, and Sister Maria Wei Yanhui, from the same diocese, were killed in the Home for the elderly in Wuhai, Wuda district, in inner Mongolia, by a lay person who wanted revenge for being fired.
In India Father Peter Bombacha was killed by strangers in the ashram he founded in Baboola, about a kilometre from the residence of the Bishop of Vasai, the ancient populated centre near Mumbai (India). His body was found in a pool of blood, a cord tied around his neck and a pair of scissors stuck in his throat.
AFRICA
A priest and a seminarian were killed in Africa, both in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Father Christian Bakulene was returning to his parish with a friend, in north Kivu, when two armed men in uniform stopped and killed him after taking his friend's money. The Jesuit seminarian from Togo, Nicolas Eklou Komla, was killed on the edge of the capital, Kinshasa, while he was returning from school with some friends. An armed and masked man stopped him, probably to rob him, and in the discussion that followed, the thief sprayed some gunfire which hit and killed the seminarian.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF DEATH
Father José Luis Parra Puerto, 50, was killed in Mexico on 17 February, 2010, Ash Wednesday, after having his truck robbed. Father Jose Luis Parra Puerto and his companion were attacked by several unknown persons as they exited a store in Vasco de Quiroga. Immediately after, the men took the truck with the wounded priest, while his companion was forced out of the car at Avenida 508, where he asked for help to the security forces. Father Parra Puerto's body was found inside the truck in the area of Netzahualcóyotl. A native of Merida, he was vicar of the Metropolitan Church of “El Sagrario” in Mexico City and chaplain of the Knights of Columbus. Bishop Antonio Ortega Franco, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico, during the homily at the funeral, recalled Father José Luis Parra as an exemplary priest and a Good Samaritan, who throughout his life devoted himself to carrying out pastoral-social ministry along with the other priests.
Father Dejair Gonçalves de Almeida, age 32, died Tuesday, 16 March at 7 am, at St John the Baptist Hospital in Volta Redonda, about 80 km from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), after having been attacked. On Sunday, March 14, the priest was attacked while returning from the “Good Lord Jesus” Church Community in Volta Redonda, in the district of Agua Limpa. With him was a former seminarian Epaminondas Marques da Silva, 26, who died from a blow to the head.
According to information from the Diocese of Barra do Pirai in Volta Redonda, Father Dejair and Epaminondas were kidnapped and taken to the rectory in the early hours of Sunday, 14 March. The kidnappers wanted money and as they found nothing, they struck both in the head. The former seminarian died instantly and the priest immediately underwent surgery, however did not survive. The former seminarian had been coordinator of the Ecclesial Community of Santa Cruz.
Father Dejair Gonçalves de Almeida was born in Arantina (MG), was Chancellor of the Diocese and Assessor of the Diocesan Apostolate of Prayer. He worked as a priest in the Our Lady of Grace area, where he served eight Ecclesial Communities.
On Saturday, March 20, 2010, Luis Enrique Pineda, Salesian Coadjutor from the “Saint Peter Claver” Province of Colombia-Bogotá (COB), was killed in the city of Bogotà, at 8:00 in the evening. On his way to visit relatives, Brother Luis Enrique Pineda was attacked by three thugs who robbed him at knife-point, stabbed him and left him in the street. Despite his wounds, he was able to stop a taxi and ask to be taken to the first aid emergency centre where he died. Luis Enrique Pineda was born on 24 May, 1953 at Otanche-Boyacá, and had made his first religious profession in Rionegro, Antioquia, on 24 January, 1977. To be professionally competent to serve young people, he graduated in Psychology. He was the author of several research papers and studies which he undertook to help children to develop a coherent plan for life.
See Fides 25/03/2010
The lifeless body of Father Román de Jesús Zapata, a Colombian, was found on 24 March in the rectory of the parish of the jurisdiction of Currulao, in Turbo, about 500 km from the capital city of Bogota, where he was pastor. The diocesan priest, age 51, was found in the bathroom, naked, with his hands tied and with half of his body covered with a sheet, which makes authorities believe that he died from asphyxiation. According to family members, the religious man had not received any death threats. The priest's lifeless body was found by the woman in charge of ringing bells, who saw him that he did not arrive for Mass in the morning and went looking for him.
The priest of American origin, Father Esteban Robert Wood, aged 68, parish priest of “Sagrada Familia” parish in Puerto Ordaz, was murdered in the evening of Wednesday, 28 April, near the parish house in the Unare district of Puerto Ordaz, in the state of Bolivar, Venezuela. Fr Wood, originally from Vancouver in the state of Washington (United States), had been on mission in Venezuela for more than 23 years. One of the workers who works in the parish found the priest dead with wounds inflicted with a knife. Both the Bishop and the local press attribute the murder to a robbery perpetrated by strangers which ended with the murder of the priest. Those who knew him remember Fr Wood as “an excellent person and very humble”, who was “committed to the community and worked hard, even for projects in Ciudad Guayana.” A few weeks before the criminal act he had started a “Campaign for the Defence of Life and of Peace”, against the violence of which he was the victim.
Father Peter Bombacha, 74, was murdered by strangers during the night of 28 April, 2010 at the ashram he founded in Baboola, about a kilometre from the residence of the Bishop of Vasai, an ancient centre near Mumbai (India). The body of Fr Peter was in a pool of blood. He had a rope around his neck and scissors stuck in his throat. According to Bishop Felix Machado, “Father Peter had created and operated, with the help of lay people, a recovery home for alcoholics. He was born in Vasai and came from a fishing community: that's why his name was 'Peter'. He was well liked and respected by all. We have no idea of the reasons for the murder, perhaps a theft or maybe someone had it in for him,” said the Bishop, excluding the trail of violence by Hindu fundamentalists: “We do not think it was Hindu extremist groups. First of all because in this area there are none. Indeed, relations with the Hindu community in the area are excellent. Many faithful Hindus have come today to express dismay and solidarity.”
Father Rubens Almeida Gonçalves, 35, was murdered while he was in his parish of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in the City of Campo Belos (GO), the Brazilian Diocese of Porto Nacional. According to accounts, Father Rubens de Almeida Gonçalves was seriously wounded by a gun shot to the head on 20 May 20 and died the next day in Brasilia, where he had been hospitalized. According to several witnesses at the origin of the crime was a denied request by the priest to lease the parish hall to man who then shot and killed him. Known for his work among the poor and the marginalized, “Father Rubens died in the full exercise of his priestly ministry, which has always been marked by missionary zeal and faith in the Risen Christ. All the communities for which he worked offered their testimony to the passionate commitment with which he pursued his mission of evangelization,” said the note signed by Father Paulo Sergio Maya Barbosa, Chancellor of the Diocesan Curia.
Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia and President of the Turkish Episcopal Conference, was stabbed to death by his driver at his home in Iskenderun (Turkey), on 3 June, 2010. Born in Milan on 31 March, 1947, Padovese had entered the Capuchin Order of Friars Minor on 3 October, 1964. Ordained a priest on 16 June, 1973, he was the head professor of Patristics at the Pontifical University Antonianum and for sixteen years was the director of the Institute of Spirituality in the same university. He also held a professorship at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Pontifical Academy Alfonsiana. For 10 years he was also guest lecturer at the Oriental College of Rome for the Congregation of Eastern Churches. On 11 August 2004 he was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, and ordained a Bishop.
The Seminarian Mario Dayvit Pinheiro Reis, 31, of the Archdiocese of Sao Luis (Brazil), was killed in the Capital on the evening of 4 July, 2010, struck by a bullet that hit his abdomen. At around 8.30 pm he was in front of the house of his family, in the car with his grandmother, when he was approached by two robbers who forced them to get out of the car. After handing over the keys, he was suddenly hit by a gunshot fired by one of the criminals that severed his aorta and reached a lung. Transported to the hospital, he died at around 9.30 pm. The fourth year student of theology, was to be ordained deacon the next year and would have travelled to France for Bible studies. During his homily at the funeral Mass, Archbishop José da Silva Belisario emphasised that even though he was still quite young, Mario was a true testimony of faith and commitment to the priesthood, and had awaited with great trepidation his ordination to the diaconate.
Father Joseph Zhang Shulai, 55, Vicar General of the Diocese of Ningxia, and Sister Mary Wei Yanhui, 32, of the same diocese, were killed in the house for the elderly in Wuhai, Wuda district, in Inner Mongolia. Their bodies were found the morning of 6 July, 2010, by house staff who, when they failed to arrive for Mass, went to look for them in their rooms and found them in a pool of blood. The priest's body, found in his room on the ground floor, had numerous stab wounds and there were clear signs of a struggle, while the sister was killed in her room on the floor above, with a single blow, the chest. The religious sister was the director of the house for the elderly, home to about sixty persons, both men and women. The police arrested the murderer several days after the event, a layman who had been dismissed from the house for the elderly and who took revenge.
Father Carlos Salvador Wotto, 83, parish priest of the church of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, in the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, was found dead in his parish on the evening of 28 July, 2010. The priest had been gagged and bound, had cigarette burns on his arms and cut marks on different parts of the body, but he died from suffocation because he had a plastic bag over his face. The sexton of the parish discovered the body and called an ambulance, but emergency efforts were useless because the priest was already dead. The city of Oaxaca is often the scene of several clashes between gangs of drug cartels and Mexican State authorities.
In a very confusing situation, a priest died, Father Herminio Calero Alumia, 36, a native of Buenaventura, parish priest of the church of Santiago de la Atalaya, in the town of Bosa (Colombia). The incident occurred around 3.00 am, Friday, 20 August, 2010, on the road between Bogota and Soacha, in an area called Quintanares. There are several versions of the incident. According to some sources, the priest was travelling in a taxi with other people, when the vehicle was stopped at a police roadblock and a dispute began between them and a police officer. The agent pulled out his gun and set off an accidental shot that killed the priest at once. In other versions, the men who travelled with the priest were drunk, and in the scuffle that followed at the police block, they tried to attack the policeman and steal his gun when the tragic event occurred. Father Reynaldo Vargas, Chancellor of the Diocese of Soacha, referred to Father Calero as “a very peaceful man.”
Father Linán Ruiz Morales, OFM, 80, was found dead the morning of Friday, 27 August, 2010 in his bedroom on the first floor of the convent of San Francisco, located in the centre of the Peruvian capital, with a series of cuts to his neck. The body of his colleague, Ananias Aguila, 26, was found suffering from numerous stab wounds in the kitchen next to the church, where there is a canteen for the poor. According to the police report when the offenders entered the home it is likely the parish priest was aware of their presence. In fact the room was a mess and the safe was open and empty. Father Ruiz, of Puerto Rican nationality, arrived in Peru in 1978 to bring the Movement “Encuentros de Promoción Juvenil” to young people, a kind of youth ministry that made him known and loved by the many young people of the Archdiocese of Lima. In recent years he had devoted himself particularly to the poorest: the kitchen for the poor for which he was responsible provided food to 1,200 people, among them children and the elderly, very needy who came from different parts of the city.
Julien Kénord, 27, a Caritas worker, was killed in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, on 8 October 2010, following an attempted robbery. He had just received a check for $ 2,000 in a local bank when he was attacked with blows from a firearm by strangers while he was in his car. Transported to hospital, he died shortly after due to his injuries. The Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, Lesley-Anne Knight said he was “a very loyal colleague and dedicated to his work. He had helped the victims of the earthquake to rebuild their lives.” Caritas has worked in Haiti for a long time, and immediately after the tragedy of the earthquake of 12 January, 2010 has provided food, water, medicine, health care and support to the devastated population.
Father Wasim Sabieh and Father Thaier Saad Abdal, were killed on the evening of 31 October, 2010, during a serious attack on the Syrian Catholic Cathedral in Baghdad, causing dozens of deaths and injuries among the faithful who had gathered for Sunday Holy Mass. A third priest was seriously injured. According to eyewitness accounts, Father Thaier said to the terrorists who broke into the church: “Kill me, not this family with children”, shielding them with his body. The two priests killed, not even in their thirties, were very active in their Biblical apostolate, in interreligious dialogue and charity. Father Thaier was in charge of a Centre for Islamic Studies while Father Wasim was very involved in helping poor families.
Father Christian Bakulene, pastor of Saint Jean-Baptiste de Kanyabayonga, south of Butembo in the territory of Lubero, in North Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, was assassinated on 8 November 2010. The priest was returning on a motorcycle with a friend, when in his parish, near the village of Mapere, two armed men in military uniform stopped him. The villain in uniform asked: “Who among you is the pastor?” Father Bakulene replied, “I am.” After taking money from the priest's companion, the gunman killed Father Bakulene with several shots. Before stopping Father Bakulene's motorbike, the murder had stopped other motorcycles, and the occupants had been asked the same question: “Are you a priest?”. It was therefore a targeted killing, disguised as a street robbery degenerated into murder.
Father Bernardo Muniz Rabelo Amaral, 28, associate parish priest in the city of Humberto de Campos (Brazil), died around 9:00 pm on Saturday, 20 November, 2010, in the city hospital, where he had been transported after being attacked by a man who he had given a ride in his car. The priest was hit in the neck and chest by several bullets fired by the robber who then seized the vehicle, more than $ 400 Brazilian and the priest's phone. When he was discovered, the priest was still conscious. Taken to the hospital, he could not overcome the severity of injuries. The fifth of six children, he was ordained priest on 5 September this year.
The Jesuit seminarian of Togolese nationality, Nicolas Eklou Komla, was killed on Sunday, 5 December, 2010, on Belair Road in Mont Ngafula on the outskirts of Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the night between 4 and 5 December, the seminarian was returning on foot with some colleagues to the Jesuit school "St Pierre Canisius" in Kimwenza, when a masked gunman blocked their path, presumably to rob them. A discussion soon degenerated: the bandit fired a few rounds of gunfire that hit the seminarian, who died several hours later. Nicolas Eklou Komla, was born on 4 June, 1985, in Togo, and entered the Society of Jesus on 7 October, 2008. He made his first vows on 2 October, 2010. Nicolas Eklou Komla had arrived in the DRC only two months ago to study philosophy.
Father Miroslaw Karczewski, 45, Polish, priest of the Convent of Friars Minor (OFM Conv), was killed on the afternoon of Monday, 6 December, 2010 in the rectory of the parish of St Anthony of Padua in Santo Domingo de Los Colorados (Ecuador), in the north of the country, about 300 km from Quito. The priest, who for five years carried out his ministry in this parish, was to celebrate Mass at 7:00 pm, but did not appear, so the parishioners went to look for him at home, and found him dead, with wounds on the neck and other parts of the body. After killing him by hitting him with a large crucifix, the thieves stole his phone and computer. Police said that the priest had been assaulted a year ago, in his house, and had laid eyes on the criminals who had threatened to kill him if he denounced them.
The FBI has 
A Florida man is taking legal action after being harassed for his faith and taking a demotion in order to study to become a minister, and one Christian author says believers will soon be persecuted in their workplaces for proclaiming their belief in Christ.
"When it comes to Christianity, basically what you're seeing here is increasing persecution, a total lack of understanding, and actually accusation and demonization of a person who proclaims Christ in any form or way," he laments.
