“With great sorrow, this missionary Dicastery has come to know of the attack against the newly elected Bishop of Rumbek (South Sudan) around midnight on April 25, at the hands of two armed persons. I want to assure Msgr. Christian Carlassare MCCJ, my closeness in this moment of trial and the continuous support in prayer for a speedy recovery”: with these words, sent to Mgr. Mark Kadima, Chargé d’affaires in the Apostolic Nunciature in South Sudan, Tanzanian Archbishop Protase Rugambwa, Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, addressed in a message – shared with Agenzia Fides – – the bishop, whose legs have been injured and who is currently being transferred to a Nairobi (Kenya) hospital to receive adequate medical care, expressing the closeness and solidarity of the Holy See and the universal Church. According to the reconstruction confirmed to Agenzia Fides, two armed people entered the Bishop’s house shooting at the door of his room. Once inside, they shot the bishop in the legs with three bullets and then fled. Bishop Carlassare suffered a hemorrhage and was transferred to the Rumbek hospital run by Doctors for Africa CUAMM, where he underwent emergency surgery. Later, thanks to the services of the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), was transferred to Nairobi. The Comboni missionary was appointed bishop of the diocese of Rumbek on March 8. His episcopal ordination was scheduled for Pentecost Sunday, May 23. The diocese of Rumbek had been vacant since July 2011 following the sudden death of Bishop Cesare Mazzolari. Fr. Fernando Colombo, a member of the Comboni Missionaries, governed the diocese as diocesan administrator until December 27, 2013, when Cardinal Fernando Cardinal Filoni, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, appointed Fr. John Mathiang as Diocesan Coordinator.
Bishop Carlassare was born on October 1, 1977 in Schio (Vicenza). After primary and secondary school, he attended an orientation course at the Comboni Missionaries Seminary in Thiene (VI). He did postulancy and philosophical studies in Florence, at the Faculty of Theology of Central Italy, and the novitiate at Venegono Superiore (VA). He completed his Baccalaureate in Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University (2000-2003) and his Baccalaureate in Missiology at the Pontifical Urbaniana University (2003-2004), in Rome. He made his solemn profession in Rome in 2003 and on 4 September 2004 he was ordained a priest. After ordination, he took an English language course (2004-2005) and went to South Sudan to learn the Nuer language at Holy Trinity Parish (Old Fangak County) (2005-2006). Subsequently he carried out the following positions: Vicar (2006-2007) and Parish priest of the same Parish in the State of Jonglei (2007-2016); Member of the Secretariat for Vocational Animation and Basic Formation (2011-2019); Provincial Councilor of the Comboni Missionaries (South Sudan) (2012-2019); Secretary of the Provincial Council of Comboni Missionaries (2014-2016); Vice Provincial in South Sudan (2017-2019); Promoter of vocations and Director of the orientation course (pre-postulancy) for the Comboni Missionaries in Moroyok (Juba) (2017-2020). From 2020 to March 2021 he was Vicar General of the Diocese of Malakal.
