"Nun shot in Somalia offered forgiveness with dying breath" - CNA

CNA reports:

Mogadishu, Sep. 19, 2006 (CNA) - The Consolata missionary sister who was shot dead by Islamic extremists in Mogadishu, Somalia, forgave her killers with her final breaths.

Sr. Leonella Sgorbati, 70, was shot five times in the back, in broad daylight, as she was walking back to her residence from the pediatric hospital where she gave medical training. Sr. Sgorbati was returning home at midday for lunch. Two gunmen reportedly jumped out from behind parked cars and opened fire on Sr. Sgorbati and one of the security guards who accompany the sisters when they cross the street, reported MISNA. The guard also died.

..

Sr. Feurra described Sr. Sgorbati’s final moments on the operating table. “Sister Leonella was still alive; she was in a cold sweat. We held hands, looked at each other and, before turning out like a little candle, three times she repeated to me ‘forgive.’ ‘Forgive, forgive, forgive…’ These were her last words,” she said.

...

This morning Pope Benedict XVI sent a telegram, through Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, offering his condolences and prayers to the Consolata community, of which Sr. Sgorbati was a part. The communication called the sister’s death “tragic” and deplored the manner in which she was “barbarically murdered.”

“In firmly reaffirming his condemnation of every type of violence, His Holiness hopes that the blood poured from this faithful disciple of the Gospel will become a seed of hope for the construction of an authentic fraternity between peoples, in the mutual respect for the religious convictions of all,” the telegram said.

Martyred for being a public witness to her Catholic faith? Forgiving her murderers with her last breaths on earth? I don't know anything about the degree of heroic virtue she practiced throughout the rest of her life but her death sure seems saintlike to me. And the Pope is already calling her a "faithful disciple of the Gospel."

Update: More here from the Anchoress. I'm still trying to find the full text of what the Pope said.

Update 2: Fr. Stephanos came through for us in spades, translating the Pope's entire telegram.