Ivory Coast: Catholic parish secretary murdered

Mrs Faustine Brou

Source: Fides

A parish secretary was found murdered in her office at a Catholic church, in the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan on Saturday, 10 August.

Mrs Faustine Brou was attacked by an unknown man who came into her parish office at St Cecile's Catholic Church in the southern Ivory Coast city of Abidjan in Saturday evening. She suffered multiple knife wounds. Mrs Brou was found alive in her office at around 11pm and rushed to hospital for treatment, but she died at around 4am on Sunday morning.

Mrs Brou was known for her availability and spiritual commitment to the Church. The tragic news was announced at Mass on Sunday. A post on the parish Facebook page called Mrs Brou's murder "appalling".

"We are all in shock," it reads, "but we believe that life here on earth is only passing and that our eternal homeland is the Kingdom of Heaven."

The message also called on local Catholics to pray for the soul of Mrs Brou, as well as for the assailant who took her life and "those who may have commissioned this despicable act."

The final cryptic comment leaves open the question on whether someone besides the assailant may be behind Mrs. Brou's murder. Other incidents of anti-Catholic sentiments have recently occurred in the southern part of Ivory Coast.

In early July, a statue of the Virgin Mary was decapitated in Grand-Yapo, some 60 km north of Abidjan. A similar act of violence against a Marian shrine was carried out on 3 August in the Yopougon neighbourhood in Abidjan.