Indonesia-based Jesuit spiritual adviser to Mary Jane Veloso passes away

The Jesuit spiritual adviser of Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipina who spent time on death row in Indonesia, died at a hospital in Yogyakarta on Saturday, June 6, 2026, according to a CBCP News report.

Fr. Bernhard Kieser, 87, spent 60 years working in the prison ministry in Indonesia particularly at the Yogyakarta’s Wirogunan Prison where he got in touch with Veloso, who spent 15 years on death row for a drug-related case.

Keiser was born in Bruchsal, Germany and traveled to Indonesia in 1963 where he spent many years as a priest being involved in academic, pastoral and social ministries in the Yogyakarta region.

He also served as coordinator of the Jesuits’ Commission on Peace and Social Justice.

“Through his life, Father Kieser bore witness to the truth that faith without action is empty, and that standing alongside the poor and marginalized is an authentic expression of love,” the Jesuit congregation said.

The Jesuits based in Indonesia announced that Kieser was laid to rest on Monday, June 8, 2026 after a funeral Mass that was held at the Maria Ratu Damai Cemetery Complex in Girisonta, Central Java.

At the Yogyakarta Wirogunan Prison, he tended to the spiritual needs of Mary Jane Veloso, a former domestic worker who was sentenced to death in 2010. Local officials said she carried 2.6 kilograms of heroin through the Yogyakarta airport. Veloso has maintained that she was tricked into carrying the drugs.

Veloso was nearly executed in 2015 but was granted a last-minute reprieve after then President Benigno Aquino III. Aquino made an appeal to the Indonesian government to spare her because she was a witness in a human trafficking case against her recruiters.

"Kieser was supposed to administer her final rites had the execution been carried out," CBCP News reported.

UCANews reported that in December 2024, the Indonesia and Philippine governments agreed that Velosos serve the rest of her sentence in the Philippines. Before leaving she sent a personal message to the priest.

“Take care of your health,” she told reporters.

Veloso is detained at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.

In May 2026, family members filed a motion for resolution urging the Supreme Court (SC) to immediately resolve a November 2025 petition seeking her release.

Veloso's parents and members of advocacy group Migrante International staged a protest in front of the SC in Manila to renew their call for her release, according to a GMA News report. — BAP, GMA News