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vol, 9, no. 77

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Articles provided through Catholic World News Service

      VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- A Belgian nun was killed by armed marauders in Congo earlier this month, the Vatican news service Fides has reveal.

      Sister Anne Desrumeaux was killed in the evening of April 8 when a group of soldiers attacked the convent of St. Therese in Nganza, in the Diocese of Kananga. The same convent had been the object of a previous attack on the preceding Sunday, which was Palm Sunday. The attackers were discouraged on that occasion when one of the nuns set off an alarm that brought the local population to the alert. But on Wednesday night of Holy Week, a group of about 20 men broke into the convent, and shot down the Belgian nun when she confronted them. She was rushed to the nearest hospital, but during the long trip-- made still longer when the driver was forced to make a detour around an armed rebel camp-- she lost blood steadily, and she was declared dead at the hospital in Thikagi.

      Archbishop Godefroid Mukeng'a Kalong celebrated a funeral Mass for Sister Desrumeaux in St. Clement cathedral in Kananga on Holy Thursday. Among those present for the funeral was the local governor, who received a formal protest from the diocese because of the inadequate security at the convent.

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