The Episcopal Conference of Mozambique (CEM) held an extraordinary plenary assembly in Matola between September 2 and 4, demanding explanations from judicial authorities regarding the homicide of D. Osório Citora Afonso, bishop of Quelimane and apostolic administrator of Beira, aged 54, shot dead on June 6 at the Episcopal House in Quelimane. This crime, classified by the CEM as an "unprecedented murder" and a "harsh blow to the heart of the Catholic Church in Mozambique," remains without official answers three months after it occurred.
The CEM lament that, despite the investigations carried out, "nothing is known from the competent authorities about what happened." The final communiqué from the assembly raises direct questions about the case, questioning who killed D. Osório, who were the moral and material perpetrators of the crime, and what could have been the motivations for the assassination. The bishops appeal that the efforts of the judicial authorities do not cease, transforming into a path of purification that helps heal this "atrocious wound."
The document, signed by the archbishop of Nampula and president of the CEM, D. Inácio Saure, recalls the meeting of July 3 at the Vatican with Pope Leo XIV, who expressed "his closeness and interest in clarifying the circumstances and causes of the death" of the prelate. The extraordinary meeting also served to mark the end of the "first generation of bishops of the post-independence period," paying tribute to the recently deceased D. Januário Machaze Nhangumbe and Cardinal Júlio Duarte Langa for their contribution to the consolidation of the Church in Mozambique.
