Luca Atanazio, his bodyguard Vittorio Iacovaci and their driver, Mustafa Milabo, were killed in an ambush while driving on their way to a UN-sponsored school.
The widow of the Italian ambassador who was killed last year in the Democratic Republic of Congo burst into tears today as she spoke to Pope Francis about her husband’s efforts to help the children of Africa.
Luca Atanazio, his bodyguard Vittorio Iacovaci and their driver, Mustafa Milabo, were killed in an ambush while driving on their way to a UN-sponsored school.
The Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo left behind his wife Zakia Sediki and the three daughters they had. Attendees erupted in prolonged applause at Atanazio’s name during a Vatican event.
Zakia Sendiki, a Muslim from Casablanca, Morocco, spoke of her late husband’s great love for children and his support for an NGO she founded to help homeless women and children in Africa.
🔴#PapaFrancesco: “Exempi vissuti di fratellanza, like quello di #LucaAttanasio e #Zakiain the same spear and in the fan guard with more fiducia on our whole lacerat of division and initiation “# WMOF22# 22giugno # Tv2000@LaityFamilyLife @diocesidiroma @ WMOF2022 pic.twitter.com/xTvK6sepHZ
– Tv2000.it (@ TV2000it) June 22, 2022
Unable to hold back her tears, she also explained that the different religious beliefs were a “gift” and not an obstacle to their marriage. “We learned, step by step, to live in harmony without judging each other, because we have always believed in the same God, who asks us in two different holy books – the Bible and the Qur’an – to love our fellow man, to always do “Good and not bad, to respect others,” he said. “We both read to our little girls. “Hand in hand with Lucas, we prayed together wherever we went,” he continued.
As the head of the Roman Catholic Church listened intently, Sediki recounted that the period of Ramadan fasting made them reflect on “the sufferings of every child deprived of food and water” in various parts of Africa.
The pope told her that her husband’s example and spiritual heritage “remain alive and addressed to the consciences of many.”
Pope Francis was due to visit the area where Luca Atanazio was killed during a trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, but was canceled due to mobility problems.
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