Catholic priest stabbed to death in Italy, known for his care of the 'last'

A 51-year-old priest was found dead of knife wounds on Tuesday near his parish in the city of Como, Italy.

Fr Roberto Malgesini was known for his devotion to the homeless and migrants in the diocese of northern Italy.

The parish priest died in a street near his parish, the Church of San Rocco, after suffering several stab wounds, including one in the neck, around 7 am on September 15.

A 53-year-old man from Tunisia admitted to the stabbing and shortly thereafter surrendered to the police. The man was suffering from some mental disorders and was known by Malgesini, who had made him sleep in a room for homeless people run by the parish.

Malgesini was the coordinator of a group to help people in difficult situations. The morning he was killed, he was expected to have breakfast for the homeless. In 2019 he was fined by the local police for feeding people who lived on the porch of a former church.

Bishop Oscar Cantoni will lead a rosary for Malgesini in the Como Cathedral on September 15th at 20:30 pm. He said that "we are proud as a bishop and as a Church of a priest who gave his life for Jesus in the 'last'".

“Faced with this tragedy, the Church of Como clings to the prayer for its priest Fr. Roberto and for the person who killed him. "

The local newspaper Prima la Valtellina quoted Luigi Nessi, a volunteer who worked with Malgesini, saying that “he was a person who lived the Gospel every day, at every moment of the day. An exceptional expression of our community. "

Fr Andrea Messaggi told La Stampa: “Roberto was a simple person. He just wanted to be a priest and years ago he made this wish explicit to the former bishop of Como. For this he was sent to San Rocco, where every morning he brought hot breakfasts to a minimum. Here everyone knew him, everyone loved him “.

The priest's death caused pain in the migrant community, reports La Stampa.

Roberto Bernasconi, director of the diocesan section of Caritas, called Malgesini "a meek person".

“He dedicated his whole life to the least, he was aware of the risks he ran,” said Bernasconi. “The city and the world did not understand its mission.