VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Wednesday paid rich accolades to the Italian priest who was killed by a mentally unstable migrant. Far-right leader Matteo Salvini called for a “vendetta”.
Catholic priest Father Roberto Malgesini, 51, who used to take care of immigrants and the destitute in Como, was found dead from a stab wound outside his residence on Tuesday morning.
Police said a Tunisian immigrant who was mentally unstable surrendered himself to the police.
The pope in his weekly address said Malgesini was killed “by a needy person who he himself was helping, a person who was mentally ill”.
He praised the “martyrdom of this witness of charity towards the most poor (and) all the priests, nuns, laymen and lay women who work with needy people who are discarded by society”.
He exhorted the audience to observe a minute of prayer for the slain priest.
Head of the anti-immigrant League party and former justice minister Salvini mentioned about the priest during a political rally in northern Italy on Wednesday morning.
“The fact that yesterday morning in Como a pastor was stabbed by an immigrant who should have been expelled is something that ought to make everyone cry out for vendetta,” he said.