US priest found murdered in Brazil
By IANSWednesday, January 19, 2011
Rio de Janeiro, Jan 20 (IANS/EFE) A US Catholic priest and academic was found dead with his hands tied and a cord around his neck in an apartment in Brazil, authorities said.
The naked body of 72-year-old Ferdinand Azevedo was found by members of his congregation
in the northeastern city of Paulista. The body was in a kneeling position and in an advanced state of decomposition.
The apartment in Janga, a seaside suburb of Paulista, was maintained by the Jesuit order to accommodate priests on individual retreats.
However, despite the circumstances in which it was found, the body did not show any signs of violence or visible wounds, police said.
The priest, who had lived in Brazil since 1975 and came to be the regional head of the Jesuits in Pernambuco, each year took a 10-day retreat in Janga.
Azevedo was a researcher and professor at the department of Religious Sciences at the Universidad Carolica de Pernambuco, in Recife.
–IANS/EFE
