Rome: Catholics in South Sudan mourned the death of a Holy Spirit nun, a missionary to the troubled northeastern African nation.
Sr. Veronika Rackova, a medical doctor died on May 20, a week after a solider shot and wounded her in Yei, a medium-sized city in South Sudan’s southwest. The nun worked as a medical doctor at St Bakhita Health Centre there.
Bishop Erkolano Lodu Tombe of Yei, who led a memorial Mass at Christ the King Cathedral on May 21, expressed profound sadness at the missionary nun’s death when normalcy was returning to his strife-torn nation.
The prelate urged security personnel to not let wrong elements provoke citizens into “unnecessary reactions.” He also urged military commanders to punish immediately soldiers who abuse their role while protecting lives and property of citizens. Earlier this week, the government said it had arrested three soldiers for the shooting.
Yei River State Information Minister Stephen Lodu Onesimo described Sr. Veronika’s killing as an “undisciplined and barbaric act.” He said the culprits “must be brought to justice.”
Sister Veronika Rackova from Slovakia served as head of St Bakhita’s Medical Centre in Yei. She was shot at and severely wounded on at around 1.00 am on May 16 by soldiers who were on night patrol in Yei Municipality. The incident occurred when the nun was driving an ambulance on her way back from Harvester’s Health Centre, a more specialized facility for women and children.
She was returning after delivering a patient with a complicated case of delivery for specialized treatment and care. Sr. Veronika died y at the Nairobi Hospital in Kenya, where she had been flown for emergency treatment.
Holy Spirit provincial Sister Maria Jerly said Sr Veronika’s death brought great anguish for her congregation, especially those working in South Sudan. She, however, said the tragic death will not deter her sisters’ work in South Sudan.
“It is our hope to continue to serve the needy people of this great nation of Africa despite this unfortunate incident,” Sister Jerly told journalists in South Sudan.
Speaking at the Mass, Yei diocese’s vicar general Fr. Zachariah Angutuwa Sebit told the congregation that Sr. Veronika knew she was dying. As he narrated the nun’s last days, the congregation shed tears at the Mass.
Earlier in the week, the diocese’s secretary general, Fr. Emmanuel Sebit, termed the death as “a tragic accident.” According to him, the government had special police on the eve of anniversary celebrations marking 30 years of the formation of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. There were several roadblocks on most major highways, reported the Vatican Radio.