Fr George in monsignor garb.

Father George Grima, a missionary priest who founded the Jesus in Thy Neighbour [Ġesu fil-Proxxmu] missionary movement, has died aged 66. 

Fr George passed away after having recently undergone heart bypass surgery at Mater Dei hospital. 

Gozo-born and raised, Fr George began his missionary work in September 1977 when he was sent to the diocese of Londrina in Brazil a few months after being ordained. 

READ: 'We are restoring people's dignity,' Fr George told us in July

His three-year stint there led him to further missionary work in the dioceses of Bahia and eventual Minas Gerais, where he built homes for orphaned children. 

A decade into his priesthood, Fr George founded the Jesus in Thy Neighbour missionary movement, which continues to run programmes in Brazil, Ethiopia, Kenya, Gibraltar, the USA and Malta to this day. 

Fr George's funeral will be held next Thursday at 5pm at the St George basilica in Victoria, Gozo.

The Nationalist Party expressed its condolences. Party leader Adrian Delia describing Fr George as a man who had dedicated his life for the service of those in need.

Fr George meeting Mother Theresa.