The Vatican has released figures showing that in the last quarter century 626 Catholic missionaries and pastoral workers have been killed, with Africa and the Americas being the deadliest regions.
Last year alone 17 were killed, with 10 priests, two seminarians, two catechists, two Sisters and one layman all losing their lives.
The figures, which were compiled by the Pontifical Mission Societies Agenzia Fides information service, showed Africa to be the deadliest continent last year, with five deaths in Nigeria alone, two in Burkina Faso and one each in Kenya, Sierra Leone and Sudan.
The America’s were the second deadliest continent, with two nuns murdered by gangs in Haiti, a priest kidnapped and murdered in Mexico, and another priest shot and killed in Kansas, US.
In Asia, a parish priest was murdered in the ongoing civil conflict in Myanmar and a teacher at a Catholic school was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the Philippines.
In Europe a single parish priest in Poland was murdered in an apparently unprovoked attack by a former policeman. No motive is known.
Despite the tragic loss of life, Agenzia Fides figures suggest that deadly violence against Catholic clergy and pastoral workers has declined in recent years.
Since 1990 an average of 33 killings have taken place every year, however this figure is inflated to a degree by the 1994 Rwanda genocide, which accounted for the lives of 248 church workers among the hundreds of thousands of Rwandan victims.
Excluding 1994, an average of 26 church workers have been killed every year since 1990. The last time that figure was exceeded in a single year was 2019, when 29 church workers were killed.
The introduction to the report reads, “The annual list… does not refer only to missionaries and pastoral workers ‘ad gentes’ in the strict sense, but considers the term ‘missionary’ in a broader context, encompassing all Catholics who were involved in some way in pastoral works and ecclesial activities and who died violently, even if they did not die expressly ‘in hatred of the faith’.”
The report, which also summarises the circumstances of those who died last year, states, “The news about the lives and circumstances of these individuals’ violent deaths offers a glimpse into everyday life in contexts often marked by violence, misery, and a lack of justice.
“These are often witnesses and missionaries who voluntarily offered their lives to Christ until the very end.”
