Colombian Priest Murdered

AMERICA/COLOMBIA - the cowardly assassination of Father Orozco “shows the serious crisis of human and Christian values”

Rionegro (Agenzia Fides) – Father Luis Carlos Orozco Cardona, 26 years old, was killed in Rio Negro (Antioquia) on the evening of Saturday, 12 February: the news was confirmed in a message sent to Fides by the Colombian Episcopal Conference. According to information gathered, among the crowd, an armed youth shot the priest, who was the vicar of the Cathedral in the Diocese of Sonson – Rionegro. The priest, seriously wounded, was taken to St John of God hospital in Rionegro and despite doctors' efforts he died in the early morning of 13 February, while undergoing surgery. The capture of a minor was reported, perpetrator of the priest's murder, and whose motives remain unknown for the moment.
Father Orozco Cardona was born on 10 October 1984 in Carmen de Viboral. After elementary and high school, he entered the Seminary of Our Lady of Marinilla where he studied philosophy. He studied theological at the National Seminary of Christ the Priest in La Ceja. He was ordained a priest one year ago, 26 February 2010.

The Diocese of Sonsonate-Rionegro has condemned the crime and issued a statement, signed by the Bishop of the Diocese, Bishop Fidel Leon Cadavid Marin, and by the diocesan administrator and presbytery, in which they call for some light on this murder: “We seriously deplore the cowardly assassination of Father Luis Carlos Orozco Cardona on the evening of 12 February, who served as Parochial Vicar of the Parish-Cathedral of Rionegro. This shows, once again, the serious crisis of human and Christian values from which our society suffers because God is forgotten and because there is contempt for human life and dignity of the human person.” (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 16/02/2011)

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