Michael Courtney

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Michael Aidan Courtney (born February 5, 1945 in Nenagh , County Tipperary , Republic of Ireland , † December 29, 2003 in Bujumbura , Burundi ) was an Irish priest , monsignor and bishop . He was the Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi from 2000 to 2003 and was murdered under circumstances that have not yet been clarified.

Life

Michael Courtney was born in 1945. He was ordained a priest at the age of 23. From 1968, the year of his ordination , to 1996 he was a priest in various diplomatic missions of the Vatican, for example in the Republic of South Africa , Senegal , India , Yugoslavia , Cuba and Egypt . On April 10, 1981, Pope John Paul II awarded him the honorary title of Chaplain to His Holiness ( Monsignor ).

From 1996 to 2000 he was special envoy of the Holy See to the Council of Europe . In 2000 he was named titular archbishop of Eanach Dúin . He received his episcopal ordination on November 12, 2000 in St Mary of the Rosary Church in Nenagh, Francis Cardinal Arinze .

He was appointed Apostolic Nuncio, and thus Ambassador of the Holy See for Burundi, in 2000 and held this office until his murder on December 29, 2003. He was on his way home from a priest's funeral when his car was shot at under as yet unexplained circumstances and Courtney was shot in the head . Michael Courtney was the first nuncio in a long time to be murdered on his mission. He was buried in his native Nenagh.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Annuario Pontificio per l'anno 1996 , Città del Vaticano 1996, p. 2120.