A Catholic bishop appointed by Pope Leo XIV as administrator of a diocese in the central part of Mozambique was murdered on Saturday. Referring to the bishops’ conference there and the police, the AFP agency informed about it, writes TASR.
Bishop Osorio Citora Afonso (54) was hit in the chest with “probably a single blow”. The attack took place at his residence in the city of Quelimane. The Mozambique bishops’ conference said Afonso was “found without signs of life under mysterious circumstances that need to be clarified”.
In his statement, Mozambican President Daniel Chapo expressed deep sadness over Afonso’s death and called it an irreplaceable loss for Mozambican society. About a quarter of the population in Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, claims to belong to the Catholic Church, according to the last census almost ten years ago.
Afonso was born in Mozambique, worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Italy. In 2023, he became an auxiliary bishop in Maputo and a year later he was appointed bishop. In July 2025, Pope Leo XIV. translated to the Diocese of Quelimane.
