Catholic Priests being killed; here and there

Benedict XVI called for an end to violence in Burundi, after learning of the killing of a priest on the outskirts of the capital, Bujumbura.

In a telegram to Archbishop Paul Gallagher, apostolic nuncio in Bujumbura, the Pope expressed "his profound sorrow … to all the members of his family and to his brother Jesuits," offering "a fervent prayer to the Lord of Life for the dead and for all those in mourning."

Father Koma was in charge of the newly built Jesuit church in Kamenge, one of the poorest neighborhoods of Bujumbura.

According to early reports, Father Koma happened into a gunfight between militiamen in the place where a major of Burundi's National Defense Forces and his wife had been killed. Some authorities also speculated that the priest was killed to eliminate him as a witness.

On Dec. 29, 2004, Archbishop Michael Courtney, the then apostolic nuncio in Burundi, was killed in an ambush in the Minago area, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital. The archbishop was a great promoter of peace at the height of the civil war that scourges Burundi.

Despite the government's guarantees and the petition of Burundi's ecclesial community, an official investigation commission has yet to be established to shed light on the Irish-born archbishop's death.

And here...

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.