Six missionaries were killed in the Americas in 2023, with all of the murders occurring in either Mexico or the United States. The deaths included one bishop, three priests, and two laywomen. Two catechists were killed on their way to a Eucharistic procession in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
In the United States, Bishop O’Connell was killed in his home. Charges were filed against his housekeeper’s husband. Father Gutgsell was stabbed in his Church rectory; an arrest has been made and charges filed in that case as well.
Asia
Four laypeople were killed in Asia in the past year.
Two of those murders happened in the Philippines. Two Catholic college students, Junrey Barbante and Janine Arenas, were killed when a bomb went off during a Eucharistic celebration at the State University of Mindanao.
The other two murders occurred in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war. Two women, Samar Kamal Anton, along with her mother, Nahida Khalil Anton, were killed by sniper fire while on their way to the convent of the Sisters of Mother Teresa.
Europe
One missionary was killed in Europe, a Spanish layperson.
Diego Valencia was the sacristan of Nuestra Senora de La Palma Parish in Algeciras when he was killed by a Moroccan man wielding a machete.
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