Quelimane (Fides News Agency) – Investigations are continuing to establish the reason and identify those responsible for the brutal murder of the Bishop of Quelimane, Osório Afonso Citora, IMC, who was killed on Saturday, June 6.
According to Maximino Amílcar, spokesperson for the Mozambican Investigative and Forensic Police Agency (SERNIC) in Zambézia, an unknown number of individuals reportedly broke into the bishop’s residence in the early hours of the morning, firing the fatal shots.
Upon learning the news whilst on the flight taking him to Spain for the apostolic journey scheduled from 6 to 12 June 2026, Pope Leo XIV expressed deep sorrow for the assination of Bishop Osório. The Pontiff “joins in prayer with the people of the Dioceses and of Mozambique in this hour of bewilderment, so that the Lord may give them consolation, so that he may guard in his love every man and woman and stop the hand of violence,” reads a message published on the Holy See Press Office’s Telegram channel. The death of Bishop Osório has provoked reactions of dismay within the Church and Mozambican society, including that of the Archbishop of Nampula, Bishop Inácio Saúre.
The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) has expressed grief and outrage. In a statement released this weekend, the African bishops described the act as a “barbaric crime” and an attack on life, human dignity, peace, justice and religious freedom. The organization strongly condemns the murder and reiterates that no religious leader should be the target of violence for having dedicated their life to the service of God, reconciliation and the common good. In the statement, SECAM calls on the Government of Mozambique and the relevant authorities to conduct an immediate, transparent and independent investigation to identify and prosecute all those responsible for the crime. The bishops also call for the strengthening of protective measures for religious leaders and places of worship. At the same time, they express their solidarity with the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique, the clergy, and the faithful of the dioceses of Quelimane and Beira, as well as with the family of Bishop Osório Afonso, praying for the prelate’s eternal rest and renewing their call for justice, peace, respect for human life and religious freedom in Mozambique and across the African continent.
Local sources contacted by Fides news agency highlight the cruelty of a crime committed without any possible reason. In a video released by the Consolata Missionaries, taken during the last pastoral visit carried out by their brother bishop on June 5, in one of the communities, Father Osório is seen taking off his sandals to sit and talk with Muslims and reflecting on the latest Pastoral Note from the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique (CEM) published on May 13, 2026 (see Fides, 15/5/2026), in which the bishops called for an end to the violence in Cabo Delgado, warning against the extremism and violence plaguing the region, particularly against Christian communities. In that final appeal, Bishop Osório had explicitly said, addressing those gathered: “I ask you this: we can never accept that religion divides us, but that religion unites us. Is that not so? Therefore you pray and we too pray. This is the meaning of my visit. I said this: my brothers there live with Muslims. There is not a market just for Muslims; the market is for Catholics, Christians and Muslims alike. Isn’t that right? The hospital is for everyone together. So I said: I will go there to speak to them, to greet them and to tell them that I want them to pray for me and that I, too, am praying for them. And we will all pray for peace in Mozambique, we will pray for well-being in Mozambique, we will pray for justice in Mozambique. As I took off my sandals, I remembered, then, that our God asks us for humility, asks us to recognize that we are all brothers and sisters”. (AP) (Fides News Agency, 8/6/2026)
