Kenyans mourn death of slain missionary bishop

Published: 2005-07-20

ISIOLO, Kenya (CNS) -- Some 4,000 Kenyans attended an emotional funeral Mass for slain Bishop Luigi Locati of Isiolo, an Italian missionary who had worked in Kenya for 40 years. Among the mourners were Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, who pledged to bring the bishop's killers to justice. Eight men -- including two local Kenyan priests picked up July 20 -- were being held by police for questioning about Bishop Locati's death, reported Reuters, the British news agency. Reuters quoted a Kenyan police official as saying there could be financial motives involved with the bishop's death. "There was a problem of corruption to do with the funding of various projects under the church and in which the bishop must have got some enemies," said provincial criminal investigation officer Mohammed Amin. Bishop Locati was shot in the head and throat at close range outside the Isiolo pastoral center and died about an hour later at the community hospital. He had worked in Kenya, mainly in Isiolo, for 40 years and had just learned that Pope Benedict XVI had accepted his retirement.

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