An 82-year-old Salesian priest Pol Feyen has been killed in Kinshasa, a Congolese province that includes the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Local media report that he was stabbed in his room around midnight by one or more assailants. "It is very unexpected news. Pol Feyen was elderly and was struggling with his health, but the way he met his end is out of all proportion," says deacon Ward Ceyssens.
Pol Feyen was better known as 'Koko Pol' and hailed from Hechtel in Limburg. According to his order he was killed in Masina municipality. The circumstances of his death are still unclear.
The 82-year-old priest 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 organisation 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.
Feyen's body was transferred to the morgue with several stab wounds. An investigation is expected to clarify the exact circumstances and hopes to bring the perpetrators to justice.
A Salesian is a member of a Salesian order, especially a member of the Society of St Francis of Sales founded in Turin by St John Bosco in 1854, and dedicated to all types of educational work.