Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Arusha (Agenzia Fides) - "The priest died while being taken to hospital, and the suspect was killed by angry citizens who were waiting for him outside the scene of the incident". This is what the police commander in the Arusha region reported to the local press about the assassination of Father Pamphili Nada in the parish of Our Lady Queen of Apostles in Karatu, Mbulu diocese.
"People were deeply shaken by this sudden and tragic event," the new Bishop of Tabora, Protase Rugambwa, who Pope Francis included in the list of future cardinals, published on July 9, 2023, told Agenzia Fides. The dynamics of the tragic and fatal incident reports that on Wednesday, July 19, a man entered the church apparently to pray, when at some point he struck Father Nada with a heavy, blunt object, causing the death of the priest while being transported to hospital. The killer apparently suffered from mental illness. "He was a spiritual father, known for his deep faith and great commitment, eager to fulfill his responsibilities with zeal, dedication and courage," Bishop Anthony Gaspar Lagwen of Mbulu Diocese said on behalf of the Tanzanian Bishops' Conference. News and current affairs channel Mwananchi Communication Limited reported the statements of some residents of Karatu, who claimed that the killer had been insistently trying to enter the church to pray since the previous night, but the guards had stopped him. The next day, early in the morning, the man kept shouting for permission to come in to pray, and that's when Father Nada came out and asked the guard to open the door for him. This year alone, it is the third tragic incident against the church in Tanzania by people with mental illnesses. The first was the desecration of the Cathedral of the Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, in the Catholic diocese of Geita, on February 26, 2023 (see Fides, 2/3/2023). The second happened on May 11, 2023, when an unknown person broke down the main door of St. Charles Lwanga Cathedral in the diocese of Kahama (see Fides, 15/5/2023). (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 21/7/2023)
