Moscow archbishop celebrates Mass for Slovak priest slain in Russia

Published: 2005-01-25

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Moscow Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz led a memorial Mass for a priest slain in his archdiocese. The Jan. 25 Mass in Moscow's cathedral was in memory of Father Jan Hermanovski, 70, who was killed Jan. 20 after two men broke into his home in an apparent robbery attempt. The Slovak priest was dedicated to helping the poor and marginalized; he "handed out food to the homeless at the city's train station," the archbishop told Fides, news agency of the Vatican's Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. "The thieves would not have found much to steal," because everything "he owned, he gave to those in need," the archbishop said in the interview, published at the Vatican Jan. 25. "This unscrupulous crime shows us once again" how society needs the Gospel's saving values, he added. Father Hermanovski's funeral was scheduled in Slovakia Jan. 27 with Archbishop Kondrusiewicz presiding.

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