.- Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, was reportedly stabbed to death in Iskendurun, Turkey on Thursday by his driver, who also served as his aide.
According to Italy's ANSA news agency, Turkish police have detained the alleged killer and have not yet established a motive.
Apostolic Nuncio to Turkey, Archbishop Antonio Lucibello told the news agency that "from what I've learned, Bishop Padovese's driver, Murat, [a Christian according to a CNS news report] admitted his responsibility. It's strange because I've always seen this man as a very devoted person to Padovese and always obliging."
Fr. Federico Lombardi said through Vatican Radio that the "terrible" news of the loss of the president of Turkish bishops "leaves us deeply shocked" and "desperately sorry."
He remembered the bishop for his "great merits" in providing a witness to the Church's life in spite of difficulty in Turkey.
Bishop Padovese, a member of the Capuchin order, had been the Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia since 2004 after working in Rome for over a decade.
Fr. Santoro [at right] was killed four years ago in a church in Trabzon, Turkey while praying. [Remember that? Murdered while kneeling in prayer inside his church by a lunatic of the religion of peace? The process for his beatification will be started soon as his death his viewed as a martyrdom, hatred for the Faith by those raving lunatics of the 'Religion of Peace'.]
The Vatican spokesman said that while the circumstances and motives surrounding the killing must be investigated to better understand what happened, regardless, his remains "a life donated for the Gospel."
"This fact, on the eve of a papal trip towards the Middle East, to encourage the Christian communities living in this region, lends an extraordinary intensity, helping us to profoundly understand the urgent need for the solidarity of the universal Church to support these Christian communities.”
Bishop Padovese was planning on going to Cyprus tomorrow to meet with the Holy Father and receive the working document for the coming Special Assembly of Middle Eastern Bishops in October.
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Sad indeed.
Please say a prayer for the repose of the soul of the Apostolic Vicar...
Pray for our priests especially now that it is the First Friday of the month.
Prayer for Priests
by St. Therese of Lisieux
O Jesus, eternal Priest,
keep your priests within the shelter of Your Sacred Heart,
where none may touch them.
Keep unstained their anointed hands,
which daily touch Your Sacred Body.
Keep unsullied their lips,
daily purpled with your Precious Blood.
Keep pure and unearthly their hearts,
sealed with the sublime mark of the priesthood.
Let Your holy love surround them and
shield them from the world's contagion.
Bless their labors with abundant fruit and
may the souls to whom they minister be their joy
and consolation here and in heaven their beautiful
and everlasting crown. Amen.
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