Cardinal Parolin will pay tribute in Burundi to Mons. Michael Aidan Courtney

The Secretary of State of the Vatican, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, will visit the African country of Burundi from this August 12 to Monday 18.

As reported Vatican Newsthe purple will make this trip after having received the invitation of the local church, as well as the authorities of the country.

The main reason for this visit is to participate in the closing of the Jubilee for the 60 years of diplomatic relations between Burundi and the Holy See.

Likewise, the Vatican authority will be present at the inauguration of a monument dedicated to the Apostolic Nuncio Mons. Michael Aidan Courtney, shot dead when he exercised his mission in Burundi 22 years ago.

After his death in 2003, the then Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, stressed that Mons. Courtney “sacrificed himself for love of Africa.”

“Day and night, without rest, Monsignor Michael Courtney helped the Burundes to restore understanding and concord through dialogue. He did not save any effort to bring all the Burundeses closer, without excluding anyone,” said Cardinal Sodan on that occasion.

As recalled by the official Vatican media, Mons. Michael Aidan Courtney played a decisive role in the agreement signed in November 2003 between the Burundés government and the Hutus rebels.

The prelate of the Irish origin was reached by several shots and the Nuncio died in the hospital because of the impact of a bullet, on December 29, 2003, at 58.

It should be remembered that, in 2023, at the age of 20 years of his death, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for relations with the Vatican states, celebrated a mass of suffrage for the nuncio in the Irish chapel of the Vatican Grutas.

As reported by the official account of the State Secretariat, @TerzaLoggia, Cardinal Parolin will celebrate the Mass with the bishops of the Burundi Episcopal Conference. He will also have a meeting with President Undayishimye and the signing of the specific agreements between the Episcopal Conference and the Government.

On Friday, August 15, Parolin will celebrate the Mass at the Mariano de Mugera sanctuary and then visit Guitega, the capital of the country.

On August 16, the cardinal will meet with seminarians and the higher superiors of the male and female religious orders. Subsequently, the inauguration of the Memorial to Mons, Michael Aidan Courtney, will take place, with the placement of the first stone in the monument.

On Sunday, August 17, he will preside over the closing mass of the jubilee for the 60 years of diplomatic relations of both states. Before saying goodbye to the African country, you will visit the Notre-Dame Trois Fois admirable Sanctuary of Schoenstatt, where on September 7, 1990 San Juan Paul II celebrated the Eucharist.