Mussie Zerai Yosief, also known as Dr. Abba Mussie Zerai Yosief, Mosè Zerai and Dr. Father Moses, (born 1975), is an Eritrean

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest known for his work with asylum seekers & refugees crossing the

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from North Africa to Europe during the European Asylum seekers crisis.

Biography

Born in Asmara, Zerai grew up with seven siblings and was raised by his grandmother; his mother died when he was five and his father, who at one point was arrested by the Secret Police, fled the country to Italy. At age seventeen, Zerai traveled to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

where he applied for asylum and with the aid of a British priest, obtained a residence permit.Mattathias Schwartz (21 April 2014
The Anchor
''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' His first years in Italy were spent sorting newspapers and working on a fruit stand, while helping his priest as a translator and assistant, especially supporting immigrants & refugees to obtain identification, residency permits, health cards, pensions, and tax registration. For three years he studied with the Scalabrinian Missionaries in

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

, returning to Rome in 2003 to study theology and work for the organization there. In 2006, Zerai co-founded Agenzia Habeshia, an organization which works to pursue the interest of asylum seekers and refugees. He was ordained a priest in 2010. After 2011, Zerai lived in Switzerland where he was a priest for the Eritrean and Ethiopian communities. He was first placed in

Fribourg or is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), La Sarine. Located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss Plateau, it is a major economic, adminis ...

and later in Erlinsbach.Luigi Jorio (28 April 2015
‘Migrants are not adventurers or tourists’
Swiffinfo.ch. Retrieved 6 October 2015 In 2014, he was elected European coordinator for Eritrean Catholics and their chaplains. In 2018, he returned to Rome to carry out the task of European coordinator and prepare the way for the appointment of the apostolic visitor for the faithful of the géèz rite in Europe, the USA and Canada. In 2022, he was assigned to carry out pastoral service for the Italian missions in Montreal in Canada.

Awards

* Giardino dei Giusti di tutto il mondo al Monte Stella - Milano https://it.gariwo.net/giornata-dei-giusti/giornata-dei-giusti-2023-25636.html * Premio per la Cultura Mediterranea 2017 https://www.fondazionecarical.it/iniziative-della-fondazione/premio-per-la-cultura-mediterranea/xi-edizione-premio-per-la-cultura-mediterranea/ * Terra Justa - Fafe Portugal April 2016, https://static.cm-fafe.pt/camara-municipal-fafe/296/236385/terra-justa-programa-2016.pdf * Golden Doves for Peace - Rome Italy, June 2016, https://archiviodisarmo.it/premio-colombe-d-oro-per-la-pace.html * The 100 Most Influential People, TIME, April 2016, https://time.com/collection-post/4302419/mussie-zerai-2016-time-100/ * ProAsyl award for Human Right, September 2016, http://www.proasyl.de/pressemitteilung/pro-asyl-menschenrechtspreis-geht-an-father-mussie-zerai/ * CRANS Montana Forum award for Peace and Human Dignity, October 2016 https://www.cmf.ch/index.php?page=16 * Mundo Negro at la Fraternidad 2017 Spain http://mundonegro.es/helena-maleno-y-mussie-zerai-estamos-cediendo-nuestra-libertad-a-cambio-de-seguridad/ * One Young World Counsellor Father Mussie Zerai is a Nobel Peace Prize nominee https://www.oneyoungworld.com/counsellors/father-mussie-zerai https://www.oneyoungworld.com/news-item/one-young-world-counsellor-father-mussie-zerai-nobel-peace-prize-nominee * The

Peace Research Institute Oslo The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO; ) is a private research institution in peace and conflict studies, based in Oslo, Norway, with around 100 employees. It was founded in 1959 by a group of Norwegian researchers led by Johan Galtung, who was ...

nominated Zerai for the 2015

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

. * Honorary PHD 2020 Luzern University of Switzerland https://www.unilu.ch/universitaet/dienste/universitaetskommunikation/medienmitteilungen/fakultaeten-und-departement-verleihen-fuenf-ehrendoktorate-5481/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zerai, Mussie 1975 births Living people People from Asmara Eritrean activists Immigrant rights activists Eritrean emigrants to Italy Eritrean Catholic priests 21st-century Roman Catholic priests