Free Republic

Rome - The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Turkey, killed last week by his driver, was decapitated in a "ritual Muslim sacrifice," the head of a missionary news agency said on Tuesday. After the murder of Luigi Padovese, the driver reportedly shouted from the roof of the victim's house that he had killed the "great Satan," adding Allah akbar ("God Is Great"), a Turkish journalist told AsiaNews. The news agency for overseas missionaries said Padovese "was stabbed in his home, and managed to leave his home to ask for help," AsiaNews director Bernardo Cervellera told Italy's Sky TG24...

An Italian Vatican expert is saying that Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia and President of the Turkish Bishops’ Conference, canceled his trip to Cyprus because he feared that his driver –who later confessed to killing the bishop- might attempt an attack on Pope Benedict XVI during his stay on the island. Analyst Fr. Fillippo di Giacomo, who writes for publications such as L’Unitá and La Stampa, revealed that “hours before Padovese was killed, the Turkish Government called him to say that his driver, who they themselves had put in his service four years before, had gotten out of...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Bishop Padovese canceled Cyprus trip to avoid assassination of Pope The late Bishop Luigi Padovese and Pope Benedict. Rome, Italy, Jun 8, 2010 / 06:48 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An Italian Vatican expert is saying that Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia and President of the Turkish Bishops’ Conference, canceled his trip to Cyprus because he feared that his driver –who later confessed to killing the bishop- might attempt an attack on Pope Benedict XVI during his stay on the island. Analyst Fr. Fillippo di Giacomo, who writes for publications such as L’Unitá and La Stampa, revealed that “hours...

» 06/07/2010 16:35TURKEY - VATICAN In memory of Mgr. Padovese, martyr who loved Turkey by Maria Grazia ZambonA portrait of the bishop slain June 3, his brotherly kindness with Christians and Muslims, his tenacity to revive the churches founded by St. Paul. A meditation by an assistant of Mgr. Padovese. Iskenderun (AsiaNews) - A bolt from the blue. In my parish office I was thinking about the interview with the Provincial of the Jesuits in the Middle East that I had just finished - we talked about the small Christian community in Turkey and its future in this land...

Iskenderun (AsiaNews) - Today at 4pm local time the funeral will take place of Msgr. Padovese, killed by his driver, Murat Altun, strangely "crazed" last June 3. Meanwhile, new details have emerged on the dynamics and motives of the killing that has prostrated the Turkish Church. The funeral ceremony will be held in the Church of the Annunciation, with the participation of the apostolic nuncio, Mgr. Antonio Lucibello, the Latin bishops of Istanbul and Izmir, the Armenian Catholic Bishop of Istanbul, as well as the priests in Turkey and representatives of international embassies. There will also be a delegate of...

Istanbul - A top Catholic Church official in Turkey was stabbed to death in his home on Thursday, Turkish television broadcasters reported. The reports said Vicar Apostolic for the Anatolia region, Bishop Luigi Padovese, was killed by a driver in the bishop's home in Iskenderun. Further details were not immediately known. In recent years, nationalist extremists in Turkey on several occasions have attacked or kidnapped Christian clergymen in the country. Luigi Padovese took up his post in Iskenderun in southern Turkey in November 2004.