20 missionaries killed in 2023

Twenty Catholic missionaries were murdered in 2023, according to a new report issued by the Vatican’s Fides News Agency.

The news agency reported that one bishop, eight priests, two non-religious men, one seminarian, one novice, and seven laypersons made up the missionaries murdered in the last year.

The agency said that most of the missionaries shared the traits of living a “normal life” and did “not carry out any sensational actions or out-of-the ordinary deeds that could have attracted attention and put them in someone’s crosshairs.”“They found themselves, through no fault of their own, victims of kidnappings, acts of terrorism, involved in shootings or violence of various kinds,” the report said.

Among those who were killed were two US clergymen: Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell and Nebraska parish priest Fr Stephen Gutgsell.

The number of murders represents an increase over 2022, when 18 missionaries were killed.

Africa

Nine missionaries were killed in Africa, the continent that saw the most such murders in 2023. Of the nine, five were priests, two were religious men, one was a seminarian, one was a novice.

Of these, four were killed in Nigeria. In recent months, a monk, Brother Godwin Eze, was kidnapped and brutally murdered at the Benedictine monastery in Eruku, Nigeria.

In Burkina Faso, two men, a priest and religious brother, were killed. In the western African country of Tanzania, one priest, Fr Pamphili Nada, died after his parish was attacked.

In Cameroon, Brother Cyprian Ngeh was stabbed to death, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a priest, Fr Léopold Feyen, was also stabbed to death.

Mexico and US

Six missionaries were killed in the Americas in 2023, with all of the murders occurring in either Mexico or the United States. The deaths included one bishop, three priests, and two laywomen. Two catechists were killed on their way to a Eucharistic procession in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.

In the United States, Bishop O’Connell was killed in his home. Charges were filed against his housekeeper’s husband. Fr Gutgsell was stabbed in his Church rectory; an arrest has been made and charges filed in that case as well.