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TURKEY-SANTORO Feb-6-2006 (510 words) With photos. xxxi
Pope mourns death of Italian priest gunned down in Turkish church
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI condemned all forms of violence as he mourned the death of an Italian missionary priest gunned down while praying in a church in Turkey.
The pope noted the "generosity and apostolic zeal" with which Father Andrea Santoro carried out his work as a missionary priest "in favor of the Gospel and in service of those marginalized and in need." The pope made his remarks in a telegram addressed to Bishop Luigi Padovese, apostolic vicar of Anatolia, the Asian part of modern Turkey.
In the telegram released Feb. 6 to journalists, the pope assured Father Santoro's small Catholic community of his spiritual closeness to them "at this moment of sorrow" as he "firmly deplored" every form of violence.
The 60-year-old Italian priest was part of the Vatican's "Fidei Donum" program, which sends priests to help in the missions for a fixed period of time. In the afternoon of Feb. 5, the Italian priest was shot twice while he was praying in his parish, St. Mary Church, in the Black Sea coastal city of Trebizond.
Father Santoro, from the Diocese of Rome, had been serving in Turkey for about 10 years, according to the Italian missionary news service AsiaNews.
In another telegram, the pope said he was "deeply affected" by the "serious loss of such an esteemed and enthusiastic priest."
"While I hope that his spilt blood may become a seed of hope for the building of authentic fraternity among people, I raise fervent prayers for the brave witness to the Gospel of love," the pope wrote in a telegram addressed to the papal vicar of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini.
The reasons for the priest's murder were still unclear because those responsible for the shooting were still at large.
Bishop Padovese told AsiaNews Feb. 6 that the furor over the publication of newspaper cartoons ridiculing the prophet Mohammed had reached Turkey, where the population is predominantly Muslim.
He said it "did not seem accidental" that the murder occurred while tensions in Turkey between Muslims and non-Muslims were "hot."
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Turkish bishops' conference, Father George Marovitch, told the Vatican missionary news agency Fides Feb. 6 that the murder could have been an isolated incident caused by a mentally unbalanced person. He said investigators also were looking into the possibility that organized crime might have been behind the priest's death.
Father Santoro was active in helping young women escape from traffickers who had forced them into prostitution.
Meanwhile, the apostolic nuncio to Turkey, Archbishop Antonio Lucibello, told AsiaNews Feb. 5 that Father Santoro's death made him "a new martyr for this millennium."
Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes, said prudence and further information about the priest's murder would be needed before declaring the missionary a martyr.
In an interview with La Repubblica Feb. 6, the cardinal said despite the dangers and risks involved the church's missionaries "will continue to proclaim Christ's word with feelings of peace, love and forgiveness."
END
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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