Vatican says 29 church workers were killed in mission lands in 2003

Published: 2003-12-30

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Caught in situations of civil conflict, surprised during robberies or specifically targeted for death because of their work, at least 29 Catholic Church workers were killed in mission territories in 2003, the Vatican said. Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, published its annual "martyrology" Dec. 30, listing Catholic clergy, religious and lay people who were killed as they tried to serve the church and their neighbors. The most recent victim listed was Irish Archbishop Michael A. Courtney, the Vatican ambassador to Burundi. The archbishop died Dec. 29 of gunshot wounds after the car he was riding in was fired on; the day after his death it was still unclear whether he was a specific target or simply got caught in the crossfire. A 68-year-old German Claretian missionary in Cameroon, Father Anton Probst, was killed Dec. 25; returning to his room at the Akono novitiate after midnight Mass, he apparently surprised a group of thieves. He was bound, gagged and beaten to death. Six of the 29 church workers who were killed died in Colombia.

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