Osório Citora Afonso

Osório Citora Afonso, I.M.C. (6 May 1972 – 6 June 2026) was a Mozambican Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Quelimane from 2025 until his murder in 2026. He was previously Auxiliary Bishop of Maputo from 2023 to 2025. He was a professed member of the Order of the Consolata Missionaries.

Background and education Afonso was born on 6 May 1972 in Ribaue, Diocese of Nampula, Nampula Province, in Portuguese Mozambique. He studied at the Christ the King Preparatory Seminary in Matola, Maputo. He studied Philosophy at the Saint Augustine Major Seminary in Matola. He then studied Theology at the Saint-Eugène de Mazenod Institute in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. He held a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture awarded by the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where he studied from 2006 until 2010. He also studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 2008 until 2009. From 2010 until 2011, he studied at the École Biblique et Archéologique Française, in Jerusalem.

Parish vicar and treasurer of St. Hilaire in Kinshasa from 2002 until 2005. Regional councilor for the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2005 until 2006. Studies for a licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome from 2006 until 2010. Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 2008 until 2009. Studies at the École Biblique et Archéologique Française in Jerusalem from 2010 until 2011. Member of the Council of the General House in Rome from 2008 until 2010. Local collaborator at the Apostolic Nunciature in Kinshasa from 2011 until 2013. Formator and Treasurer of the Theological Seminary of Kinshasa from 2011 until 2013. Superior of the Missionary Center of the Diocese of Vittorio Veneto, Italy from 2014 until 2016. Superior of Casa Milaico in Treviso, Italy from 2014 until 2016. Regional Councilor for Italy, based in Treviso from 2016 until 2017. Formator at the International Theological Seminary of Bravetta, in Rome from 2016 until 2017. Official at the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches from 2017 until 2023.

On 25 July 2025, Pope Leo XIV transferred him to the Diocese of Quelimane in the Ecclesiastical Metropolitan Province of Beira and appointed him local ordinary there. His instantiation at Quelimane took place on 31 August 2025.

Death On 6 June 2026, Afonso was shot in the chest and killed by unidentified gunmen carrying an AKM-type firearm in the episcopal palace of Quelimane. He was 54.