https://www.vaticannews.va/it/chiesa/news/2022-09/mozambico-suora-uccisa-missione-chipene.html
The rebels set fire to the Chipene mission, on the border with the province of Cabo Delgado. Two fidei donum priests and two sisters managed to escape, while for Sister Maria De Coppi there was no possibility of saving herself. In a vocal message, published on the site of the Comboni missionary sisters and sent to her niece Sister Gabriella Bottani at 8:17 pm on 6 September, the nun expresses her concern for the “very sad” situation.
The Comboni community in Chipene of Mozambique, in the north of the country, was attacked on the night of September 6-7 by an unidentified armed group. Sister Maria De Coppi, 84 years old of Venetian origin, and in the country since 1963, was killed by a gunshot, probably as she left the women’s wing of the parish. The two fidei donum priests of the diocese of Concordia-Pordenone were saved. They are Fr Loris Vignandel, 45, a native of Corva and former parish priest of Chions (Pordenone), and Fr Lorenzo Barro, who was rector of the diocesan seminary of the city of the Destra Tagliamento. They managed to escape together with two other nuns and will soon be joined by the bishop of Nacala, Monsignor Alberto Vera Arèjula.
Mission set on fire
The armed group had already approached the mission 24 hours before, but had not crossed the Lurio River, a natural border with the province of Cabo Delgado, the scene of violence perpetrated by rebel groups for months. In the night, however, the encroachment, with many of the mission structures that were burned, including the parish works, the dormitory and the recently inaugurated computer room, while the rooms where the missionaries had taken refuge were spared from the flames.
The Lord protect the people of Mozambique
“All the people are on the run”. “The situation is very sad”, “many people stay to sleep in the forest”. These are some of the words that mark the voice message, published on the website of the Comboni missionary sisters and sent at 20.17 on 6 September 2022 by Sister Maria De Coppi to her niece Sister Gabriella Bottani. “May the Lord – affirms Sister Maria at the end of the message – protect this people”.
Listen to the message of Sister Maria De Coppi (evening of 6/09/2022)
In telephone contact with the priests, in those terrible hours, there was Alex Zappalà, Director of the mission center in Pordenone, from which the two survivors come, who tells our microphones what happened. From a first alarm at 9 pm, to the fear of Don Loris a few hours later. “See you in heaven,” he wrote as he listened to the first shots. Then at three in the morning the fire of the mission, with the two refugee priests in two rooms that have not been touched by the assailants and the flames…
Zuppi: may her sacrifice be a seed of hope
Deep condolences for the death of Sister Maria was also expressed by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference and archbishop of Bologna. “After Sister Luisa Dell’Orto, Little Sister of the Gospel of Charles de Foucauld, who died on June 25 in Haiti,” declares the cardinal “we weep for another sister who with simplicity, dedication and silence offered her life for the love of the Gospel.” Zuppi invites us to pray for the nun, “who for sixty years served Mozambique, which has become her home,” hoping that the sacrifice of Sister Maria “will be a seed of peace and reconciliation in a land that, after years of stability, is again plagued by violence, caused by Islamist groups that for some years have sown terror and death in vast areas of the north of the country.” Zuppi therefore urges everyone to pray for the missionaries “who remain in many countries to bear witness to love and hope” and to be in solidarity with them “because they walk with us and help us to reach the peripheries from which we will be able to understand who we are and choose how to be disciples of Jesus.”…
The rebels set fire to the Chipene mission, on the border with the province of Cabo Delgado. Two fidei donum priests and two sisters managed to escape, while for Sister Maria De Coppi there was no possibility of saving herself. In a vocal message, published on the site of the Comboni missionary sisters and sent to her niece Sister Gabriella Bottani at 8:17 pm on 6 September, the nun expresses her concern for the “very sad” situation.
The Comboni community in Chipene of Mozambique, in the north of the country, was attacked on the night of September 6-7 by an unidentified armed group. Sister Maria De Coppi, 84 years old of Venetian origin, and in the country since 1963, was killed by a gunshot, probably as she left the women’s wing of the parish. The two fidei donum priests of the diocese of Concordia-Pordenone were saved. They are Fr Loris Vignandel, 45, a native of Corva and former parish priest of Chions (Pordenone), and Fr Lorenzo Barro, who was rector of the diocesan seminary of the city of the Destra Tagliamento. They managed to escape together with two other nuns and will soon be joined by the bishop of Nacala, Monsignor Alberto Vera Arèjula.
Mission set on fire
The armed group had already approached the mission 24 hours before, but had not crossed the Lurio River, a natural border with the province of Cabo Delgado, the scene of violence perpetrated by rebel groups for months. In the night, however, the encroachment, with many of the mission structures that were burned, including the parish works, the dormitory and the recently inaugurated computer room, while the rooms where the missionaries had taken refuge were spared from the flames.
The Lord protect the people of Mozambique
“All the people are on the run”. “The situation is very sad”, “many people stay to sleep in the forest”. These are some of the words that mark the voice message, published on the website of the Comboni missionary sisters and sent at 20.17 on 6 September 2022 by Sister Maria De Coppi to her niece Sister Gabriella Bottani. “May the Lord – affirms Sister Maria at the end of the message – protect this people”.
Listen to the message of Sister Maria De Coppi (evening of 6/09/2022)
In telephone contact with the priests, in those terrible hours, there was Alex Zappalà, Director of the mission center in Pordenone, from which the two survivors come, who tells our microphones what happened. From a first alarm at 9 pm, to the fear of Don Loris a few hours later. “See you in heaven,” he wrote as he listened to the first shots. Then at three in the morning the fire of the mission, with the two refugee priests in two rooms that have not been touched by the assailants and the flames…
Zuppi: may her sacrifice be a seed of hope
Deep condolences for the death of Sister Maria was also expressed by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference and archbishop of Bologna. “After Sister Luisa Dell’Orto, Little Sister of the Gospel of Charles de Foucauld, who died on June 25 in Haiti,” declares the cardinal “we weep for another sister who with simplicity, dedication and silence offered her life for the love of the Gospel.” Zuppi invites us to pray for the nun, “who for sixty years served Mozambique, which has become her home,” hoping that the sacrifice of Sister Maria “will be a seed of peace and reconciliation in a land that, after years of stability, is again plagued by violence, caused by Islamist groups that for some years have sown terror and death in vast areas of the north of the country.” Zuppi therefore urges everyone to pray for the missionaries “who remain in many countries to bear witness to love and hope” and to be in solidarity with them “because they walk with us and help us to reach the peripheries from which we will be able to understand who we are and choose how to be disciples of Jesus.”…
