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From ICNSept. 21, 2009
An Italian missionary, Father Ruggero Ruvoletto, 52, was shot dead on Saturday,
in Manaus, capital of Brazil’s Amazonas State - in an apparent robbery.
Prayer vigils and testimonies have been taking place both in Brazil and Italy.
The body of the 'Fidei Donum' priest is being transferred to Italy for burial.
Don Ruvoletto, born on 23 March 1957 in Galta di Vigonovo (Venezia), in the
Padova diocese, was parish priest for two years of the “Sagrado Corazón de María”
church, in a suburban neighbourhood of Manaus, in the heart of the Amazon.
The missionary world of Padova and many who knew Don Ruvoletto gathered in
prayer on Sunday at the Minor seminary of Rubano, where the Diocesan missionary
assembly was due to be held.
“A meeting that turned into a memorial and prayer vigil, an expression of
closeness to the family, the missionaries, to all those who dedicate their lives
to the Gospel”, said in a statement the Diocesan missionary centre of Padova.
Opening the meeting, the director of the centre Don Valentino Sguotti, who is
departing for Brazil with Fr Ruggero’s sisters, said: “The experience of faith
of Don Ruggero, culminating in the final gift of life, is true testimony of that
‘Gospel without frontiers’ on which this year’s missionary October calls to
reflect. Don Ruggero is testimony and martyr of this proclaiming of the Gospel
on the borders of the world, without any frontiers”.
Monsignor Francesco Biasin, a diocesan priest of Padova, and “Fidei Donum”
missionary in Brazil since the 70’s, now Bishop of the Pesqueira diocese, in the
Pernambuco State (North-East Brazil) said: “I couldn’t hold my tears back for
the deep grief I feel for what occurred to Don Ruggero. A man I always
considered a brother and friend. Just lately I had heard him serene and joyous,
as never before. The beginning had not been easy: he had to integrate into a
difficult environment of degrade, with disorganized occupations of new land on
the edge of the forest. Crime lately had become very aggressive: a local Bishop
had been kidnapped for a few days by bandits, while five religious houses of the
diocese were attacked and looted. Despite all this, Don Ruggero perceived
perspectives for his work. Now all his work ended brutally. It is the fate that
people who live in this land can meet. A fate that missionaries share fully,
without privileges”.
Each long-term pastoral action is limited in the precariousness of the people of my parish. What I do mainly is meet with the people, visit their homes and share in their problems
From São Luis, capital of the Brazilian Maranhão State, Paolo Annechini sent a
personal testimony to the CUM – Unitary Missionary Centre, a body of the Italian
Bishops Conference for the formation of Italian missionaries through various
initiatives for both Fidei Donum missionary sisters and fathers, and lay workers
– which MISNA quotes as follows: “On a plane to Porto Velho we had a
conversation. As always, he was cordial and had a smile. I once again asked if I
could visit and film him in his work, and once again he cordially refused the
proposal. Don Ruggero did not like to appear, it was part of his character:
humble and decisive. But in talking to me, off camera, he was as always
passionate. He told me about his pastoral work in Manaus, where he was called
for a collaboration between Brazilian churches. He told me about the
difficulties of this city that grows daily with people seeking fortune in the
Amazon, and those who leave empty handed. All crowd into the enormous suburban
neighborhoods of this city in the heart of the Amazon, where the diocese
established pastoral zones, in which Don Ruggero worked. He spoke to me about
poverty, marginalization, sense of disorientation, but in his eyes there was joy
and hope. You wake in the morning, Don Ruggero explained to me, “and you
discover in the streets who arrived and who left. Each long-term pastoral action
is limited in the precariousness of the people of my parish. What I do mainly is
meet with the people, visit their homes and share in their problems”.
"He was killed this morning brutally, for futile reasons, during a robbery in
his home in the parish. A robbery that probably took a wrong turn, maybe due to
the nervousness of those poor people who broke into his home. Yes, poor people,
because before being killers they are poor people, with guns in their hand, in a
situation that was bigger than them. Poor people: the same who Don Ruggero
listened to every day, who he loved enough to walk with them. How many cases
like this occur each day in this Brazil that travels at two speeds: the one
promoted by President Lula abroad with world powers, and the one of millions of
excluded, who are inevitably dragged by desperation into a spiral of violence.
"The death of Don Ruggero shows the risks faced by a courageous missionary who
decides to pull up his sleeves and live among the people, on the frontier”.
