From Radio Vaticana:
Apostolic Vicar Murdered in Turkey(03 Jun 10 – RV) A “horrible and incredible fact'', ''we are deeply dismayed”: this was the first response of Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, on hearing the news of the assassination of Mgr. Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia and President of the Turkish Bishops' Conference. As of yet the circumstances surrounding the murder are not clear, what is known is that he was stabbed to death by his driver at approximately 1 pm local time.Luigi Padovese was born in Milan on March 31, 1947. On October 4, 1965 he entered the Capuchin friars and exactly three years after that expressed his solemn vows. On 16 June 1973 he was ordained a priest. He became Professor of Patristics at the Pontifical Antonianum University.Before being ordained bishop he was director of the Institute for Spirituality in the same university for 16 years. He was also visiting Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University and Pontifical Alphonsian Academy .For 10 years he was a guest at the Eastern College in Rome for the Congregation of Eastern Churches. He was also a consultant to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. On 11 October 2004 he was appointed Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia and Titular Bishop of Monteverde.Only recently, in a Vatican Radio interview to mark the anniversary of the murder of Don Andrea Santoro, the Fidei Donum priest killed four years ago in the church of Santa Maria in Trabzon, Turkey, Bishop Padovese had said :”I would like to point out that he was killed as a symbol, because he was the reality of what it means to be a Catholic priest. Not only was the person killed, but they wanted to target the symbol that the person represented: remembering him at this time, within the framework of the Year for Priests, is most significant, because it reminds us that being a follower of Christ can lead to laying down your life”.Hear more:Below we publish Fr Lombardi’s full statement:“This is a horrible news that left us deeply shocked and of course, desperately sorry. Bishop Padovese was a person who of great worth for the witness of the Church's life in Turkey, and even in difficult situations, was a courageous person dedicated to the Gospel. The circumstances or motives of this death need to be better understood, what remains is a life gifted 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”.
