Mons. Michael Courtney, Nuncio Apostolico en Burundi, asesinato el 29 de diciembre Archbishop Michael Courtney, Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi, assassinated December 29 Erzbischof Michael Courtney, Apostolischer Nuntius in Burundi, ermordet am 29. Dezember
El Nuncio Apostolico en el Santuario de Bujumbura, 27 de abril de 2003 The Apostolic Nuncio at the Shrine in Bujumbura, April 27, 2003 Der Apostolische Nuntius beim Heiligtum von Bujumbura am 27. April 2003
27 de abril de 2003, oración por la paz con el Nuncio April 27, 2003, peace prayer with the Nuncio 27. April 2003, Friedensgebet mit dem Nuntius Fotos: Rocha © 2003
Rosario por la paz, 1 de enero: ermita "Magnificat" en Resistencia, Argentina Rosary on world peace day: "Magnificat" wayside shrine in Resistencia, Argentina Rosenkranz am Welttag für den Frieden: "Magnifikat"-Bildstock in Resistencia, Argentinien Foto: Ojeda Valussi © 2003

BURUNDI, mkf. One of the hundreds of stars deposited in the manger of Schoenstatt bears the name of the Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi, Mons. Michael Courtney, who died on December 29, shots in an attack to his car the same day. On April 27 he had prayed for peace in the Schoenstatt Shrine in Bujumbura, Burundi.

Sunday, April 27, 2003: approximately four thousand pilgrims are meeting in the Shrine of Bujumbura to pray for peace. The Apostolic Nuncio, the Bishop of Bujumbura, and Mons. Peter Wolf, general Superior of the Institute of diocesan priests of Schoenstatt, are with them. This peregrination already has a certain tradition, but got a special accent with the current political context of the country: one week later, the then vice-president would take up office as of the Nation, in fulfillment with the agreements of Arusha in search of a lasting peace. In the weeks before, the ambience had been a bit tense: the Maundy Thursday there were some quite strong clashes in the area of the Shrine. This motivated that one of the special intentions of this day was the request for a prompt and lasting peace. A special joy and surprise was the arrival of the Apostolic Nuncio, Mons. Michael Courtney at the end of the Mass. He was bringing his message and his prayer for peace. All together went to the Shrine in with singings and prayers. The festive ambience was of bright happiness, and later of deep prayer and contemplation in each Hail Mary said by the Bishop, accompanied in the Shrine by all the priests and answered outside by the faithful. Later the Apostolic Nuncio spoke in kirundi, and he finished with the prayer of Saint Francis for peace. On December 29 the Nuncio was killed after gunmen fired at his car as he returned from pastoral duties in Southern Burundi. Archbishop Michael Aidan Courtney, the papal nuncio to that Central African nation, suffered gunshot wounds to the head, shoulder and leg as he passed Minago, a town about 30 miles south of the capital, Bujumbura. "It was not an accident; he was killed," President Domitien Ndayizeye said in Burundi on Monday, adding that an investigation had already begun.

Archbishop Courtney, an Irish citizen, was in a car flying a yellow-and-white Vatican flag when shots rang out from a nearby hill, said Misna and Burundi officials. The area, in the province of Bururi, is considered a territory rife with supporters of the National Liberation Forces, the last rebel group not to have signed a peace accord with the transitional government.

A statement released by the Vatican said that upon hearing of the "assassination," Pope John Paul II prayed for the slain clergyman, "who was killed carrying out the difficult mission entrusted to him."

According to news of the Vatican, he is the first Nuncio being murdered at office.

Prayer for peace

" Whenever I read news on Burundi I think about the Fathers and Sisters who live there, but I never thought that they were so near," wrote a missionary from Buenos Aires, Argentina, on having received the news. Spontaneously many began to to pray for the murdered Nuncio, for his family, for the Church and the people of Burundi, for the Schoenstatt Family in Burundi, and especially for the peace, to a few days of the World Day for the Peace, come January 1. What actuality got the invitation that Alejandro and Silvia Ojeda Valussi wrote on that same December 29, inviting on behalf of the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign to pray the Rosary forpeace in Resistencia, Chaco, Argentina!

"A number of historical circumstances also make a revival of the Rosary quite timely. First of all, the need to implore from God the gift of peace. The Rosary has many times been proposed by my predecessors and myself as a prayer for peace. …To rediscover the Rosary means to immerse oneself in contemplation of the mystery of Christ who "is our peace", since he made "the two of us one, and broke down the dividing wall of hostility" (Eph 2:14). Consequently, one cannot recite the Rosary without feeling caught up in a clear commitment to advancing peace", the Holy Father wrote in the Apostolic Letter on the Most Holy Rosary.

The Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign of the Archdiocese of Resistencia wants to share with the great local, national and international Family the happiness of being able to realize for the sixth year in a row the prayer of the Illumined Rosary in Coronation of our Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt on the world Day of prayer for the peace of the world, and the offering and consecration of the new year to God, and to Mary.

The Rosary will be said at the " Magnificat" wayside shrine in Resistencia at 8:30 PM on January 1," they write. "All are especially invited to physically of spiritually join to this international event that unites us with so many others praying for peace and an end of violence."