A priest is beaten in Izmir, to the cries of 'we will kill you all'

Asia News ^ | 2-9-2006 | not attributed

[RKBA Democrat]

This latest attack targets a Slovenian friar and comes the same day the Vatican confirms Benedict XVI’s visit to Turkey, scheduled for November.

Ankara (AsiaNews) – With the battle cry “we will kill you all” a group of youths launched themselves in attack on a Franciscan friar in Izmir (the ancient Smyrna). The attack took place within the confines of St. Helen’s parish.

Speaking with evident emotion, Msgr Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, says “The boys grabbed him by the throat shouting “we will kill you all””. According to the bishop this latest aggression is “fruit of rampant fanaticism”. The attack took place within the monastic compound. The priest, who hails from Slovenia, is Martin Kmetec.

Msgr Padovese says that brother Kmetec reported the incident to local police but “they took little heed of the attack”.

Only today the Vatican officially confirmed, through a statement released by spokesman Joaquin Navarro, that “the President of Turkey Ahmet Necdet Sezer has invited His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to pay an official visit to the nation from November 28-30 2006. The Holy Father has accepted the invitation. Discussions to fine tune details for the visit are underway”.

The invitation to the Pope to come to Turkey for the feast of St Andrew (November 30) was first extended to Benedict XVI a year ago by ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy Father had already answered positively. But for the visit to become reality, the invitation had to include the consent of the Turkish government who postponed the trip to 2006.

The fact that the announcement was made in the wake of the murder in Turkey of Italian Fr. Andrea Santoro, appears both significant and indicative of the wish to show concern for ongoing dialogue. Turkish papers have published a letter written by the priest to the Holy Father, with irritated comments over the fact that a priest and three Georgian women should, unify their voices to that of the Patriarch and invite the Pope to Turkey.

[RKBA Democrat]

Ping

[AmericanMade1776]

They will not kill us all.

[Squint]

They will not kill us all.

Of course not. They're a religion of peace and understanding, right?

[conservativecorner]

The religion of peace strikes again BUMP! They can all kiss my arse!

[Theoden]

I have a sinking feeling in my stomach after reading that article, and the other about the priest being shot, that Pope Benedict may not leave Turkey. They had better protect him well.

[AmericanMade1776]

Not even sure they are a religion, and they sure aren't peaceful or understanding.

[massgopguy]

I think Islamic schools need to show photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They would not like us when we are angry and we can turn Mecca and Medina into Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Anytime we want.

[Pyro7480]

This is nothing new for that city. After the Turks took Smyrna, they killed scores of Armenians and Greeks in the city. You can read about it here

[AmericanMade1776]

Christians won the Last World War, ask Hitler.

[KJC1]

“The boys grabbed him by the throat shouting “we will kill you all””.

Just another "abberation." Nothing to see here, folks. Move along, please.

[FormerLib]

The priest is probably very familar with what happened to the Greek community in Smyrna in the early Twentieth Century.

[A message]

Just another day in Islam.

[Chaguito]

Must have been radical Baptists. No mention of religious affiliation of the perpetrators.

[Steve_Seattle]

" . . . in the wake of the murder in Turkey of Italian Fr. Andrea Santoro . . . "

Somehow I missed that on the evening news.

[DarthVader]

We must cleanse the world of Islam with atomic fire.

[dimeadozen]

Unfortunately, I think that we are nearly crippled in being able to responed that way - thanks to all the diversity training we have.

[Kolokotronis]

"This is nothing new for that city. After the Turks took Smyrna, they killed scores of Armenians and Greeks in the city. You can read about it here."

SCORES?????????? Try 120,000 to 150,000 people!

Here is a snip of what happened to the Metropolitan of Smyrna, +Chrysostomos at the hands of the savage Turks:

"In an unprotected Smyrna, Metropolitan Chrysostomos remained with his flock. "It is the tradition of the Greek Church and the duty of the priest to stay with his congregation," Chrysostomos replied to those begging him to flee. According to eyewitness testimony presented at the Academy of Athens and as narrated in "Smyrna 1992," the mob fell upon Chrysostomos. They (the Turks) uprooted his eyes and, while he was bleeding, dragged him by his beard through the streets of the Turkish quarter. He was beaten and kicked, and pieces of his skin cut off. All the while, Chrysostomos, his pace face covered with blood, had his face turned upwards, continuously praying "Holy Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Every now and then, when he had the strength to do so, he would raise his right hand and blessed his persecutors. A Turk realized what Chrysostomos was doing and got so furious that he cut off the Metropolitan's hand with his sword. Metropolitan Chrysostomos fell to the ground, and was hacked to pieces by the angry mob."

He is now recognized as a martyr saint of The Church.

[NYer]

This is totally disheartening.

ISTANBUL, Feb 10 (Reuters) - A group of Turkish youths threatened to kill a Catholic friar, grabbing him by the throat and shouting "God is Greatest", just days after a Catholic priest was shot dead in Turkey, the friar said on Friday.

Martin Kmetec, a Franciscan friar from Slovenia, opened the door of his house on Thursday to find seven or eight angry men in their twenties.

"He took me by the throat and pulled me inside and said 'we're going to finish you off' ... he also said Allahu Akbar (Arabic for God is Greatest)," Kmetec told Reuters by telephone from his church in the province of Izmir.

Kmetec closed the door on the youths, who said they were nationalists and the group, after trying to break the door down, left.

A local police spokesman said they were investigating.

Turkey, a secular state with an overwhelming Muslim majority, was shocked last Sunday by the shooting of a 61-year-old Italian priest, Andrea Santoro, in his church.

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with the murder, which coincided with an international uproar over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.

Turkey's government, which is under pressure from the European Union to improve minority religious rights, strongly condemned the shooting and invited Pope Benedict this week to visit.

Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[Rutles4Ever]

Wretchard's Three Conjectures seem more and more plausible by the day...