Philippine diocese remembers murdered priest
June 14, 2019 · By ucanews.com reporter, Manila for www.ucanews.com
Church workers light candles in honor of slain Catholic priest Richmond Nilo who was shot dead in the northern Philippine province of Nueva Ecija on June 10, 2018. (Photo by Jire Carreon)
A Catholic diocese in the northern Philippines have renewed calls for those responsible for the murder of one of its priests a year ago be brought to justice.
Bishop Sofronio Bancud of Cabanatuan led a memorial service on June 10 to mark the first anniversary of the murder of Father Richmond Nilo.
“We hope for a fair and just resolution of his murder,” said the prelate, adding that those behind the crime have to be brought to justice.
Father Nilo was gunned down inside the Nuestra Senora dela Nieve chapel in Zaragoza while he was putting on his alb before a Mass.
“We continue to call and pray for justice, peace and order in our society,” said Bishop Bancud.
The prelate said the blood shed by Father Nilo, who defended and loved the poor, “will bring abundant grace from the Holy Spirit to the Christian faithful.”
Father Nilo was the fourth Catholic priest shot in the Philippines between December 2017 and June 2018.
On June 6, 2018, Father Rey Urmeneta of St. Michael the Archangel parish in Calamba City survived an attack by two gunmen.
On April 29, a lone gunman shot dead Father Mark Ventura, parish priest of Gattaran town in the northern Philippines, after he finished celebrating Sunday Mass.Father Marcelito Paez was shot and killed on Dec. 4, 2017, in the town of Jaen, also in Nueva Ecija province.
Father Nilo was parish priest of St. Vincent Ferrer parish in Zaragoza and the financial administrator of the diocese at the time of his death.
In October last year, a suspect was arrested in Quirino province. Police said the suspect was part of an eight-man team that carried out the killing.
Parishioners remember Father Nilo as a hardworking priest.
