Sister Leonella Sgorbati... A TRUE SAINT.

This dear Christian servant truly was a Saint...

SHOT NUN'S LAST WORDS: I FORGIVE.

SHOT nun Sister Leonella forgave her assassins with her dying breaths, it was revealed yesterday.

The nun, gunned down at the hospital where she worked in Somalia, whispered: "I forgive, I forgive," in her native Italian. Her dying words were revealed at the memorial Mass for the 66-year-old nun, who devoted her life to helping the sick of Africa.

Mourners gathered to remember her in Nairobi, Kenya, as fears grew that she was the victim of Islamic radicals.

Willy Huber, head of the SOS hospital where she worked, said her killing was not a random attack and could be linked to the Pope's recent remarks about Islam.

In Somalia, radical Muslims believed to have ties to al-Qaeda have almost won control of the war-torn country from a weak government.

Sister Leonella was shot along with her bodyguard as she left the SOS hospital in the capital, Mogadishu, on Sunday. The two had been walking the 30ft from the hospital to the sister's home, where three other nuns were waiting to have lunch with her.

"She had no chance," Huber added. "It was like an execution."

Friends said Sister Leonella, who worked in Africa for almost 40 years, was aware of the dangers in Somalia and used to joke there was a bullet there with her name engraved on it.

Our prayers are with her family and fellow workers, and for her work to continue.