Brussels, Dec 14, 2023: Salesian Father Pol Feyen was murdered in the Masina district of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Don Bosco Foundation reported on its website.
The 82-year-old Flemish clergyman was stabbed to death in his bedroom around midnight on December 12 by one or more assailants. His body, marked by several stab wounds, was taken to the morgue.
Father Feyen belonged to the Maria Auxiliatrice parish.
“The Catholic community of Masina is deeply shocked by the news of his death,” said the foundation. “An investigation has been opened to determine the exact circumstances of this attack.”
Father Feyen was better known as ‘Koko Pol’ and hailed from Hechtel in Limburg.
He worked in the parish of Maria Auxiliatrice in the Abattoir District. “It is very unexpected. The man was elderly and was struggling with his health, but the way he met his end is out of all proportion,” notes deacon Ward Ceyssens of Stelimo, an organization that supports Limburg missionaries and who visited him recently.
“He no longer had parish duties, but he made himself available to the community. He provided care for young people having a hard time and worked on urban gardens for the local school.