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Missionary dies of gunshot wounds
Social activism may have been the cause

An Italian missionary, Father Nazareno Lanciotti, died on February 21 after being shot by bandits while at supper with friends. Father Lanciotti had been parish priest of Jauyru in the Sao Luiz de Caceres diocese, on the border with Bolivia. On February 11, two armed men broke into the parish house. One of the two pointed a revolver at the missionary and began to play “Russian roulette” until a shot was fired and the priest collapsed. Rushed to the Syrian-Lebanese hospital in San Paulo, after ten days the missionary died.

Father Lanciotti, born in Subiaco outside Rome, was ordained in 1966 and in 1973 he departed for the missions in the Mato Grosso region, where he soon opened a hospital and a school for poor children as well as working to eliminate all forms of exploitation, drug trafficking, and prostitution. Many Brazilians see his death as a result of his activity in favor of the poor. The vicar general of the Subiaco diocese, Msgr. Carlo Fioravanti, said: “He died a martyr. . . . It seems in fact that certain local magnates want to get their hands on the hospital Father Lanciotti built.”