Pope Francis made a remark regarding the death of Sister Luisa Dell’Orto, an Italian missionary who worked in Haiti, after his Sunday Angelus address.
Sister Luisa, a Little Sister of the Gospel of Saint Charles de Foucauld, was murdered the previous day in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.
“For twenty years, Sister Luisa lived there, dedicated above all to serving children on the streets,” the pope said June 26 in St. Peter’s Square.
“I entrust her soul to God, and I pray for the Haitian people, especially for the least, so they might have a more serene future, without misery and without violence. Sister Luisa made a gift of her life to others even to martyrdom.”
He also offered a sentiment of closeness to the Little Sisters of the Gospel of Saint Charles de Foucauld and to Sister Luisa’s family.
The 64-year-old sister Luisa was born in Lucca, in the Lombardy area of Italy.
It appears that she was the target of an attempted robbery. In the hospital, she passed away.
She was born in 1957 and began attending the church in 1984. She had previously worked in Madagascar and Cameroon before moving to Haiti.
Recent years have seen an increase in criminal gang activity and a surge of kidnappings in Port-au-Prince.
The Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince issued a warning about “unprecedented” levels of gang violence last year. Father André Sylvestre, 70, was shot and killed outside of a bank in September 2021 by several gunmen on motorcycles. The assailants left behind the cash he was carrying.
Other challenges, such as natural disasters and a lack of health care infrastructure, have also had an impact on Haiti.