Filipinos remember slain Italian missionary

01 April, 2013 - The memory of Italian missionary priest Fr Fausto Tentorio, who was killed in the Philippines in 2011, is very much alive among the local people, members of his Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) say. Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, in the Arakan township in Cotabato province where Fr. Tentorio worked for many years, on good Friday paid tribute "to his personal witness of faith", the result of a life spent in the service of the mission. PIME Fr John Vettoretto told AsiaNews that the faithful remembered Fr. Tentorio’s sacrifice and witness of faith before celebrating the Easter of Resurrection, on Sunday. Fr. Tentorio who was campaigning to preserve the environment and protecting indigenous people against corporate mining and exploitation, was gunned down outside his church on Oct. 17, 2011 by motorcycle-riding gunmen. For many, "He is still a living presence," not only in Mindanao, but also in other parishes on the island and across the country, where it is the source of grace and conversions,” Fr Vettoretto said. "People still talk about him with tears in their eyes," he noted. "But at Holy Week, people remember the significance of sacrifice, of the suffering that is redeemed on Easter Sunday."
Fr Fausto Tentorio was the third PIME missionary killed in the Philippines, on the island of Mindanao. In 1985, private armed guards murdered Fr Tullio Favali in the Diocese of Kidapawan. In 1992, Fr Salvatore Carzedda, who was involved in interfaith dialogue with Muslims, was killed in Zamboanga.
Other priests were also abducted. Fr Luciano Benedetti was kidnapped by a Muslim group in 1998 but was released after two months. In 2007, Fr Giancarlo Bossi was kidnapped by a splinter group that had broken away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but he too was released after two months of captivity. (Source: AsiaNews)