UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (UK)
[with copy of the suicide note]
By EMMA FOSTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
A Catholic priest who shot himself in the head after he was accused of molesting a young boy left a chilling suicide note in which he claims he took his own life as ‘a final gift’ to anyone he ‘might have hurt’.
In the note – which appears to be a veiled admission of guilt – Father Virgilio Elizondo, 80, said he had lived a life ‘totally dedicated to serving others’.
The Notre Dame professor left it near where his body was found, at his San Antonio, Texas, home.
Apparently unconcerned by the feelings of his alleged victim, he thanked God for his entire life – ‘especially’ his 52 years of priesthood – during which time his accuser claims Fr. Elizondo sexually assaulted him when he went to him to report abuse by another priest.
The letter – obtained by Daily Mail Online – goes on to describe how Fr. Elizondo felt ‘fatigued and empty’ and was suffering various ailments affecting his kidneys, eyes and knees.
Only in the last paragraph of the carefully typed-out note – discovered on a table just yards from where Fr. Elizondo committed suicide – does the priest ‘beg forgiveness and mercy from those he has hurt or offended.’
Last night the lawyer representing Fr. Elizondo’s alleged victim called priest self-serving and manipulative.
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