Maputo, 7 Jun (AIM) – Unknown assailants on Saturday shot dead Osório Citora Afonso, Bishop of the Diocese of Quelimane, in the central Mozambican province of Zambézia.
Bishop Osório Afonso, who was also Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Beira, in the central province of Sofala, was shot dead in the early hours of Saturday at the Episcopal Palace of Quelimane, his official residence.
According to the country’s National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC), the Bishop was murdered with an AKM-type firearm. A bullet was found in the victim’s chest, right in the heart.
According to Mozambican President, Daniel Chapo, reacting to the tragedy, the death of Bishop Osório Afonso constitutes an “irreparable loss for Mozambican society in general, and for the Christian community in particular. The deceased distinguished himself, in life, by his devotion to humility, pastoral dedication and preaching of the values of peace and reconciliation”.
For his part, Pope Leo XIV expressed, via the Holy See Press Office’s Telegram channel, his dismay and “joined in prayer with the people of the diocese and the entire African nation at this time of disorientation.”
Bishop Afonso, who was a member of the Consolata Missionaries Institute, was serving as Bishop of Quelimane since August 31, 2025. Last April, he was appointed by Pope Leo XIV as Interim Administrator of the Archdiocese of Beira.
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