Two Jesuit Priests Murdered In Moscow

Source: BBC News
Otto Messmer (left) and Victor Betancourt were murdered in Moscow.


We have some bad news from Russia:

The bodies of Otto Messmer, 47, leader of the Russian Jesuit order, and Ecuadorean priest Victor Betancourt, 42, were found on Tuesday night.

The door was found ajar and there were no signs of any theft from the flat in upmarket Petrovka Street.

Police said they had suffered severe head injuries and the bodies had lain undiscovered for at least a day.

The attack on Father Betancourt is believed to have happened at the end of last week as he did not turn up for mass as usual on Sunday, according to Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican's chief press spokesman.

I didn't know there were any Catholics in Russia. I hope they find the murderers and bring them to justice.

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UPDATE NOVEMBER 8, 2008
CathNews reports the following development:

Russian police have detained a suspect in the killings of two Jesuit priests brutally murdered in Moscow last week.

Russia's Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor General's Office says the 38 year old Russian citizen was detained in the capital on Thursday, Associated Press reports.
[...]
The detainee's said he had killed one of the Jesuits because of "sudden dislike, while the second murder was committed in order to remove the witness, another Jesuit who happened to visit his colleague," the investigative committee told Tass.