Pope calls Italian bishop murdered in Kenya 'heroic missionary'

Published: 2005-07-18

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said an Italian bishop shot and killed in Kenya July 14 was a "heroic missionary" and a "selfless witness to the Gospel." Bishop Luigi Locati of Isiolo was shot outside the Isiolo pastoral center and died about an hour later at the community hospital. The Italian had worked in Kenya, mainly in Isiolo, for 40 years and had just learned that Pope Benedict had accepted his retirement. Bishop Locati would have celebrated his 77th birthday July 23. The pope's condolences were expressed in telegrams to the Vatican's nuncio to Kenya and to the archbishop of Vercelli, Italy, Bishop Locati's home diocese. The telegrams, signed by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, said the pope "gives thanks for the selfless witness to the Gospel and the advancement of human dignity that characterized (Bishop Locati's) priestly and episcopal ministry."

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