Homs Jesuit gunned down in besieged monastery

A Jesuit priest in Syria’s Old City of Homs, who drew international attention to the plight of civilians trapped there, was murdered on Monday, writes Ellen Teague.

Dutch Jesuit Fr Frans van der Lugt was shot twice in the head outside his home by a masked gunman. Fellow Jesuit Fr Ziad Hillal, who had lived with him in Syria, reported that “Fr Frans was apparently killed execution-style with shots to the head”. The gunman’s motives were not known and no one immediately claimed responsibility for the killing.

Fr van der Lugt, who was 75 and had worked in Syria for nearly five decades, had been caring for Christian and Muslim families sheltering in an old monastery, in a rebel-held area of Homs and besieged by government forces for nearly two years. Only 25 people remained after a three-day truce in February allowed people to leave the Old City, but the Dutch priest chose to stay with those who could not leave and endured with them the constant shelling and dwindling supplies. On Wednesday Pope Francis said he was filled with deep sadness after the brutal murder of his Jesuit confrère, and prayed for peace in Syria.