Catholic Bishop is Shot Dead in the North

ISIOLO--The Catholic bishop for Isiolo in northern Kenya has been shot and killed. Bishop Luigi Locati died at 77.

Armed raiders shot him dead at his residence in Isiolo, 250 km north of Kenyas capital Nairobi, on Thursday evening, July 14, 2005. He was rushed to the nearby Isiolo District Hospital, but died 90 minutes later.

The late Bishop Locati was an Italian fidei donum cleric from the Archdiocese of Vercelli.

Bishop Locati came to Kenya in 1962, to the then Meru Diocese. He was appointed to Isiolo Parish in 1963, where he served until his Episcopal appointment in 1995, to head the new Diocese of Isiolo, created from that of Meru.

The Kenya Episcopal Conference officially confirmed the death. The Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya, His Excellency Archbishop Alain Paul Charles Lebeaupin, also spoke on a local television channel about the bishop’s murder. No motive for the killing has been advanced so far.