December 31, 2010.  The Vatican denounced that during the year 2010, 23 missionaries have died in violent circumstances, five of them for religious reasons. The number is much lower from 2009 when 37 missionaries were killed.

Among those who were killed for religious reasons is the Italian archbishop Luigi Padovese, who served as the president of the Turkish Bishops' Conference. He was stabbed by his driver on June 3, who according to police had no apparent motive.

The Brazilian priest Ruben Almeida Gonsálves was also killed by a man on May 20 after the priest refused to rent the halls of his church.

The priests Wasim Sabieh and Thaier Saad Abdal died in the October 31 attack on the Syrian Catholic Cathedral of Baghdad. They died while trying to protect local families and children from their attackers.

The last one killed for religious reasons is Christian Bakulene who was murdered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo just for being a priest.

The other 18 died during robberies or acts of vengeance.


The country with the most murdered missionaries this year was in Brazil with 5 murders, followed by Colombia with three, and then Mexico, China, Congo and Iraq, each with two.


JMB/AE