Fr. Francis Van Der Lugt

A 75 year-old Jesuit priest who devoted his life to helping children and adults with mental disabilities in Syria was assassinated on Monday outside of his monastery in the city of Homs.

The Tri-City Herald is reporting that Jan Stuyt, secretary of the Dutch Jesuit Order, confirmed that Father Francis Van Der Lugt was killed on April 7 by an unknown assailant.

“I can confirm that he’s been killed,” Father Stuyt told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) by phone.

“A man came into his house, took him outside and shot him twice in the head. In the street in front of his house,” he said.

Fr. Van Der Lugt will be buried in Syria, according to his wishes.

Father Van Der Lugt, or Father Frans as he was known to friends, came to Syria in 1966 where he founded a  home for children and adults with mental disabilities outside Homs. When the civil war started three years ago, he relocated to the rebel-held neighborhood of Bustan al Diwan in Homs Old City where he reportedly worked with refugees and civilians.

During a U.N.-brokered cease fire earlier this year, Father Frans was urged to leave Homs but he refused, citing his concerns for those he would have to leave behind.

“The Syrian people have given me so much, so much kindness, inspiration and everything they have. If the Syrian people are suffering now, I want to share their pain and their difficulties,” he told the AFP in an interview just before the U.N. evacuation.

This response surprised no one, especially not friends such as Fr Bimal Kerketta SJ, who told AsiaNews who said his death would be a severe blow for peace-loving Muslims and Christians alike.

“Father Frans was fully integrated into the life and culture of the Syrian people,” Fr. Kerketta said. “He spoke Arabic very well and had great scientific knowledge of the Qur’an. Syrian Muslims will feel his loss the most. Many Muslims had come to live in the monastery under his care. Even an Islamic sheikh and his family had found refuge.”

In addition to running special programs for the disabled, Fr. Frans also helped the needy and had special programs for local women to provide them with literacy and job training.

Thus far, his killer has not been identified but because of Father Frans’ high profile role in condemning the Syrian regime for its blockade of Homs, some believe the Hassad regime assassinated him.

“Islamic radicals with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria – a rogue al Qaida group – have been repeatedly accused of targeting clergy and churches and are also considered suspects, according to rebel officials,” the Herald reports.

Vatican Press Secretary and fellow Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said Father Frans dedicated his life to sharing in the suffering of the ordinary people with whom he lived in Syria.

He “died as a man of peace, who with great courage in an extremely dangerous and difficult situation wanted to remain faithful to the Syrian people to whom he had dedicated so many years of his life and spiritual service,” the Fr. Lombardi said.

“Where people die, their faithful shepherds also die with them. In this time of great sorrow, we express our participation in prayer, but also great pride and gratitude for having had a brother so close to the most suffering in the testimony of the love of Jesus to the end.”

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