Macasana, India priest killed

March 18, 2006

Fr Eusebio Ferrao (60), of St Francis Church in, India, was found murdered in the early hours of the morning on Saturday, March 18, in the of the church. Three people from who stayed with Fr Ferraro and had dinner with him Friday night are suspected of suffocating him with a pillow. The Archbishop has urged the authorities to find the culprits and bring them to justice.

Fr Ferrao, a diocesan priest, writer and the parish priest of Macasana Parish in, was found dead by parishoners on Saturday morning.

When he did not arrive to celebrate mass, parishoners went to check at the parish house and found him. His cook was found bound and gagged in the house.

The Macasana parish, dedicated to the patron saint of Goa, St Francis Xavier, was set up in 1809 and is situated in the southern subprovince of, India.

According to the last available records, it has a Catholic population of 3,200.