Father Paul Tatu, 45, from Lesotho, was shot dead on Saturday April 27 After being forced into a car. This assassination is “a distressing example of the deterioration of security and morality in the country”, regretted Mgr. Sithembele Sipuka, bishop of Umtata and president of the Episcopal Conference of Bishops of Southern Africa, presenting his condolences to the members of the victim’s biological and religious family.
Vatican News
Father Paul Tatu was killed last Saturday in Pretoria, South Africa, according to an announcement made by the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata of Our Lord Jesus Christ, commonly known as the Stigmata Fathers. Father Gianni Piccolboni, 76 years old, stigmatized missionary in the country for more than 30 years and provincial superior, told the Fides news agency that “the dynamics of the facts are not yet well known” and “Father Paul accidentally found himself witness to femicide“. The religious explained that the murderer would have forced the brother “to get into a car, where he was shot in the back of the head to eliminate his testimony“. “We pray for him and for the stigmata missionaries experienced by such great pain“, he added.
Condolences from the bishops of southern Africa
Father Paul was 45 years old and originally from Lesotho. The Southern African Bishops’ Conference, in which the priest had worked for several years as head of media and communications, expressed its condolences for this “tragic death», according to a press release signed by its president, Mgr Sithembele Sipuka, bishop of Umtata. Bishop Sipuka stressed that the murder of Father Tatu “is not an isolated incident, but rather a distressing example of the deterioration of security and morality in South Africa“.
Stigma in South Africa
The presence of stigmata in South Africa dates back to November 9, 1960, the date of the arrival of the first religious: Fathers Lino Inama, Dario Weger, Primo Carnovali and Brother Giuseppe Modena. After an experience as a vice-province which lasted around twenty years, it was elevated to a province on September 25, 2014. It was named “Most Holy Redeemer“, after the name of the Mmakau church where the brothers began their apostolic work in 1960. Today, the province has communities in different countries in southern Africa, notably in South Africa, Lesotho, in Botswana, Malawi and Tanzania.
